The STAAR is an important part of our education when preparing us for college and life after schooling and students should continue to take it. It also helps us track our progress academically throughout the school year and see if there was a growth from the past tests. The STAAR helps us see what subjects we need to focus and work on so we can see improvement in the future.

There has been some debates about whether the STAAR puts too much pressure and stress on students but the reality is that it’s exactly what we are going to have to face and experience in the future. We should not feel that type of stress all of the time, but thats why its only once or twice a year. It really prepares us for the pressure of adult life and how we need to act professional and serious when dealing with stuff of importance.

When I take the STAAR I feel stress just like other students do, but instead I choose to focus on my motivation. I’m naturally a very competitive person, and I always like to tell myself to get the highest score I could possibly get. I always want to be better than other students academically even if not always possible, and turn my stress into motivation to do better. The pressure on the STAAR isn’t great, but it challenges me to do better academically and that means I am growing as a student.

What’s more, is that the scoring is transparent and efficiently communicated to teachers, students and their parents. According to The Hill: Is The STAAR Test Too Hard?  “Texas now tells parents if their child is approaching grade level, meeting grade level, or mastering grade level. And it gives each school district and school an A-F letter grade. In addition, parents can see every single STAAR question, every answer, every answer rationale and how their child compared to other children in their school, district and state, along with other important data.”

In an article titled, “Does The STAAR Test Texas Students Too Hard on Young readers,” The Texas Tribune explains the test is ineffective. “Educators and parents have been arguing for years that the STAAR is too high-stakes and an inaccurate measure of whether students are succeeding academically. Lawmakers have generally been sympathetic to this argument, passing laws over the last several years to drastically reduce the number of required exams and shorten the length of some assessments.”

Even if the STAAR test does inaccurately grades our scores, it does not mean it should be removed completely, but instead changes should be made. Why remove the test completely when we could fix it, make it so we could be graded accurately? Why run away from a problem that’s so easily fixed?

The  2013 grassroots campaign, Facts About The STAAR, said that the previous state test was the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills or more commonly known as TAKS. The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness or STAAR, replaced TAKS in the spring of 2013. Unlike TAKS the STAAR test is timed with a limit of 4 hours.

As I have stated before, the STAAR  is a very important test for our society and truly helps us see where we could work to improve in the future. It also helps determine if the child is truly talented but just doesn’t make the deadline for homework.