Elimination of (SSI) Student Success Initiative and addition of House Bill 4545

House bill (HB) 4545, 87th Regular Legislative Session, became effective June 16, 2021, and eliminated Student Success Initiative (SSI) grade retention and retesting requirements for grades 5 and 8 mathematics and reading assessments. In addition, HB 4545 established new requirements for accelerated instruction during the school year for students who did not achieve a passing score on the Spring STAAR tests. Visit the Texas Education Agency's (TEA) Accelerated Learning Resources webpage for more information related to HB 4545 and accelerated instruction requirements.

STAAR - Alternative (STAAR-Alt)

STAAR-Alt is an alternative assessment based on alternate achievement standards and is designed for students with significant cognitive disabilities who meet the participation requirements. STAAR-Alt is administered in the same grades and subjects as STAAR.

For more information, refer to the special education assessments webpage.

TELPAS

Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System

In response to the federal testing requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the Texas Education Agency developed an assessment system called TELPAS. This system consists of reading tests and holistically rated assessments of listening, speaking, reading (for K-1 students), and writing. TELPAS is designated to assess the progress that Limited English Proficient (LEP) students make in learning the English language.

Under NCLB states' English language proficiency assessments must access students annually in kindergarten through twelfth grade in four language domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. TELPAS assesses the following language domains.

• Grades K-2 listening, speaking, writing

• Grades 3-12 listening, speaking, reading, writing

The domain of reading in Grades 3-12 is assessed through a multiple choice test. Together, the reading test and the holistically rated listening, speaking, reading, and writing assessments provide performance data used to fulfill state and federal reporting requirements. TELPAS reports student performance in terms of four English language proficiency levels: beginning, intermediate, advanced, and advanced high.

TELPAS is administered to all eligible LEP students, including LEP students who do not participate in a bilingual or English as a Second Language (ESL) program because of a parental denial.

For more information, refer to the TELPAS webpage.

Calendars

• 2022-2023 State Assessment Calendar