Texas' superintendent and at least one lawmaker want answers from the state education commissioner about how computers grade STAAR essays.
The Texas Education Agency quietly debuted a new system for examining student responses to the Texas State Assessment of Academic Achievement (STAAR) in December. Approximately three-quarters of written responses are scored by computers rather than humans.
“As a member of the House Committee on Public Education, this is surprising news to me. We don’t have one,” said Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin. she wrote in her recent letter to Secretary Mike Moras. dallas morning news.
Until recently, school superintendents across the state were also caught off guard. Many school districts have already sued the state over changes to their academic accountability system, which is based primarily on STAAR scores.
news On Wednesday, we reported on the introduction of computerized grading.
The use of computers to grade essays “was never communicated to the school district. But this appears to be an unprecedented change, and a 'reminder' is warranted,” Texas Schools said.・H.D. Chambers, Director of the Alliance, stated in a letter to Mr. Moras. news.
The new scoring method was introduced in an extensive redesign of STAAR. The revamped test, launched last year, includes caps on multiple-choice questions and essays at all grade levels. State officials say it would cost millions more to have only humans score the tests.
The “automatic scoring engine” is programmed to emulate the way humans rate essays and never learns beyond a single question. The computer determines how to score written responses after analyzing thousands of student responses that were previously scored by humans.
One of district leaders' biggest concerns is the huge spike in low scores among high school students under the new system.
Approximately 8 out of 10 written responses received a score of 0 on the most recent English II course end-of-course exam this fall.
In the spring, the first iteration of the redesigned test, which was scored solely by humans, resulted in about a quarter of responses receiving a zero in the same subject.
Members of the Texas School Alliance, which represents 46 school districts, “examined the results by district and found surprisingly consistent score differences.''
Chris Roznick, director of the state's Division of Assessment and Development, previously said. news She said she understands why people associate the spike in zeros with the rollout of automated scoring based on timing. However, she claims the two are unrelated.
Many of the students taking the STAAR in the fall are “retakers” who did not meet grade level on the previous test. Officials asked to explain why there was a sharp increase in low scores in the fall said testers in the spring tend to do better.
“Really, it's more of a tester population than anything else,” Roznick says.
Some school district leaders asked the state education agency to explain “what caused the large increase in the number of zeros and, most importantly, how to help students write their answers to get better scores.'' We requested that students provide images of their answers so that we could better understand their answers.
“Both requests were denied,” Chambers wrote in a letter to Moras.
A technical report with a detailed overview of the system is expected to be released later this year, TEA officials said.
STAAR scores are extremely important to district leaders, families, and communities. Schools are evaluated under the state's academic accountability system primarily based on student performance on these standardized tests.
“As with all aspects of the STAAR test and AF's accountability system, it is important that these high-stakes results be transparent, accurate, and fair,” Hinojosa wrote.
The DMN Education Lab deepens our coverage and conversations about pressing education issues that matter to the future of North Texas.
DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative supported by Bobby and Lottie Lyle, Community Foundation of Texas, Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Dee Dee Rhodes, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Meadows Foundation, Murrell Foundation, and Solutions. I am receiving support. Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sidney Smith Hicks, University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control over Education Lab's journalism.
