As STAAR testing is underway, some Houston ISD parents are opting their children out

A community leader in Houston claims some parents are choosing to opt out of the standardized tests in protest of the TEA’s takeover of HISD.

Erica Smith

| April 18, 2024, 4:26 PM (Last Updated: April 19, 2024, 4:43 PM)

Education-Digital SAT — A student takes a practice SAT test to prepare herself for the digital SAT, Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Birmingham, Ala.

STAAR testing statewide has kicked off this month and some parents in Houston ISD are choosing to allow their students to opt out of the state-mandated test.

The Texas Education Agency recognizes the STAAR (the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) exam as a state-mandated test designed to measure the extent to which a student has learned and is able to demonstrate they have mastered the curriculum at each grade level.

Ruth Kravetz is a former HISD chemistry teacher and co-founder of the Community for Voices of Public Education and says some parents are also choosing to opt out to protest the TEA’s takeover of HISD.

"It's good to give kids tests, groups like ours aren't opposed to testing; we're opposed to the toxic, high-stakes testing culture that narrows the curriculum, shames children as young as eight, fires award-winning excellent teachers and closes schools,” Kravetz said. “People can do it, and people are doing it all over Houston."

The TEA argues that parents do not have the "right" to opt out of the STAAR testing, even though students no longer must pass the test to be promoted to the next grade level or, in many cases, graduate from high school. Kravetz explained that the student will get a zero for not taking the test and to opt out a parent must follow a series of steps that include writing a letter to the principal ahead of deciding to not take the test.

But Kravetz said she is not saying avoid the STAAR or any standardized test. "We aren't saying don't take the SAT, we're saying don't make it so high-stakes."

She used her chemistry class as an example.

“My goal as a chemistry teacher was not so that kids could know how to name nomenclature and can name molecular compounds … It was also to get them to love science,” she said. “I have already shown them all that stuff, all those things made science more meaningful does not happen when you have curriculum that is so constrained. The grade is meaningless, it is the progress that's important.”

HISD was not available for comment. The STAAR science and social studies testing window is April 16-26 and the STAAR math window is April 23-May 3.