Dear Parent or Guardian,
Your student has been among the first to take the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), and North East ISD is committed to helping your family successfully navigate through this complex system. At the time of testing, educators and students did not know the STAAR performance standards for grades 3-8. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is expected to release the performance standards for grades 3-8 in fall 2012.
TEA reports student performance on state tests in two primary ways: raw scores and scale scores. A raw score only provides the number of questions answered correctly. The district has begun to receive raw scores for some of the spring 2012 STAAR tests in grades 3-8. At the time of this letter, we have received the raw scores for Grade 5 Reading, Grade 5 Math, Grade 8 Reading and Grade 8 Math. (Please note that results are not available for STAAR Modified, STAAR Alternate or tests that were not scorable.) As we continue to receive them, the raw scores will be loaded into the NEISD Parent Portal under the STAAR Results tab for your review.
While you may be inclined to translate the raw score into a passing percentage, raw scores do not indicate whether a student passes or fails a STAAR test. Instead, the state uses scale scores to determine a student’s performance. A scale score is a better indicator of subject mastery because it takes into consideration the difficulty of individual questions. The scale scores will be established when performance standards are set by the state in fall 2012.
The official results for your student won’t be available until January of 2013 when the state provides the Confidential Student Reports (CSRs), which should include raw scores, scale scores and explanations. Your student’s CSR will be mailed to you or available through the NEISD Parent Portal.
You may access the Parent Portal at https://portal.neisd.net to review your student’s STAAR raw scores, class grades and other important information. If you don’t already have a Parent Portal account, you may register for one at the same web address. Additional information about the STAAR testing system is available at www.neisd.net/staar orwww.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/.
Sincerely,
Janna Hawkins
Associate Superintendent for Instruction & Technology Services/CIO