In 2 years, the STAAR test will be gone. What will replace it?

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- In just two years, the STAAR test will be gone.

Instead, Texas students will take three shorter tests, administered at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the school year.

But questions remain on what the tests will entail and how they will be used to evaluate schools and districts.

"This kind of puts the cart before the horse, and I think some more thought should have been given. But this was done by legislators who have never stepped foot in the classroom," said Corina Ortiz, the chief of staff for the Houston Federation of Teachers.

The new law requires TEA officials to consult with a group of 40 educators when creating new tests and accountability standards, both of which are still being developed.

Districts like HISD, which already require three tests a year, may be able to keep their current tests for the beginning and middle of the year. But according to the TEA, all end-of-year tests in the state must be standardized by the agency.

Ortiz questions the role of accountability in districts like HISD that have been taken over by the TEA, now operating under appointed, rather than elected, superintendents and school boards.

In Texas, standardized testing results are used to rank districts on an A-F scale.

"Are we going to have the ability to govern our own profession?" asked Ortiz. "Or are you expecting us to stay mute and say nothing and just accept what you give us?"

For more on this story, follow Pooja Lodhia on Facebook,X and Instagram.