High School Testing

Students are required to take the STAAR end-of-course assessments for courses in which they are enrolled as part of their graduation requirement. The STAAR EOC assessments test students for college readiness and mastery of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for each course.

The end-of-course assessments only assess the TEKS for a given course. STAAR is timed, giving students up to four hours to complete each exam.

At the high school level, there are five EOC assessments required in the four foundation curriculum content areas of English (reading and writing), math, science and social studies. All students must meet a cumulative score requirement to graduate.

Courses requiring STAAR EOC

Math—Algebra I

English—English I (Reading and Writing), English II (Reading and Writing)

Science—Biology

Social Studies—U.S. History

Student Performance

After each STAAR EOC assessment is taken, students receive a score indicating performance. A student’s performance will fall in to one of three categories:

Level I—Unsatisfactory Academic Performance

Level II—Satisfactory Academic Performance

Level III—Advanced Academic Performance

High school students may continue to take the exams until they meet the passing standards.

Graduation

Each student must meet a score requirement for all EOC assessments taken to graduate. Additionally, each student must meet the cumulative score requirement to graduate.

Time Limits

There is a four-hour time limit for each of the STAAR EOC assessments. TEA notes that a four-hour time limit should provide sufficient time for the majority of students to complete the test. These time limits were adopted to align Texas testing practices with timed national assessments such as SAT, ACT and AP examinations. Extended time accommodations for students with unique learning needs are offered.