Leach on changes to Texas standardized testing program: Educators, parents need 'immediate and informed decisions to ensure students aren't falling behind'

Congressman Jeff Leach (R-Texas) has some ideas on how the state's standardized testing should be changed after an advocacy group called for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) program to be reevaluated.

Leach tweeted his thoughts on what a redesigned STAAR program should look like.

"Periodic non-punitive assessments that provide real-time data to educators & parents, helping them make immediate and informed decisions to ensure students aren't falling behind and schools are performing as expected," Leach wrote in an Oct. 26 tweet.

His comments came after a public education advocacy group Raise Your Hand Texas asked state lawmakers to reconfigure the STAAR program, which public school students are required to participate in each year to evaluate student performance, KERA News reported.

Libby Cohen, senior director of Raise Your Hand Texas, said the state has "overemphasized high-stakes, single-day student testing as the sole indicator of school and student performance" for too long during an Oct. 25 press conference, according to The Dallas Morning News.

The Dallas Morning News also reported the group has proposed decreasing the number of STAAR tests and it's impact on the ratings provided by test scores and instead shift toward a policy called "Measure What Matters Council on Assessment & Accountability."