Standardized testing, such as STAAR, State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, has been required in schools for years. Tests like these shouldn’t be something that students have to take. One test shouldn’t determine if a student has learned or not.
In September 2025, Governor Greg Abbott passed House Bill 8, stating that the STAAR test will be scrapped during the 2027-28 school year. But this is unfair to people in their current sophomore year who still have to take every STAAR test originally assigned to these students.
The main reason standardized testing should be abolished is that it is one day and time students get to take the test. If a student isn’t having a good day and they do poorly on the test, there isn’t anything that they can do about it. The state shouldn’t put pressure on students to take a test in a singular room for four hours and expect the same performance as a regular school day.
Keeping students in a quiet room for hours answering question after question while receiving similar, if not the same results as though they were in the classroom interacting with one another, leaves another reason as to why students are doing poorly. They begin to get restless and either read too fast or fall asleep mid-test.
Some may argue that standardized testing is an effective way to gain results of students’ learning throughout the year. But it’s not. The state cannot distinguish a pattern with one data point. To determine if a student has learned the subject they need throughout the year, they need to look at shorter tests on specific subjects to determine a more detailed understanding of what they learned.
The school board should end standardized testing effective immediately. Instead, the schools should utilize shorter and more specific tests throughout the year. This way, the state can get an accurate picture of students’ learning and students don’t get burned out.
