Texas 2036, a nonpartisan policy organization, released a three-part video series last week explaining the state’s upcoming transition away from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam and toward a new through-year testing model, as Texas public schools simultaneously begin administering STAAR for the 2025-26 academic year.
The change marks a significant moment for Texas education policy, says Texas 2036, as the state prepares to fundamentally restructure how it measures student learning across more than 5 million public school students. The shift is set to take full effect in the 2027-28 school year.
The video series, produced by Texas 2036, covers three core topics: the purpose of student assessment, how the new system differs from STAAR, and what parents can expect beginning in the 2027-28 school year. “For years, Texas families and educators have shared challenges with the current system. The state listened, and this new system is the result,” said Mary Lynn Pruneda, director of education and workforce policy for Texas 2036. “These videos tell the story of why Texas is making this change and what it means for students and families,” Pruneda said.
The legislative foundation for the transition is House Bill 8, authored by state Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, and state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, and passed during the Legislature’s second special session in 2025. Under HB 8, STAAR will remain in place before being replaced by the new Student Success Tool (SST) in 2027-28. The Texas Education Agency (TEA), which oversees public education for approximately 9,400 campuses across the state, is responsible for implementing the transition and has outlined the SST framework on its official website, describing the new model as designed to provide “actionable data” to teachers and families throughout the school year rather than a single summative result at year’s end.
Under the new system, students in grades 3 through 8 will take shorter assessments in core subjects three times per year — at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year — replacing the single end-of-year STAAR exam that has defined Texas student testing since 2012. The through-year model is intended to give educators earlier insight into student progress, allowing for instructional adjustments before the academic year concludes rather than after it ends.
The STAAR exam was introduced under the administration of then-Gov. Rick Perry as a replacement for the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), with the goal of raising academic rigor and aligning Texas standards more closely with college and career readiness benchmarks. Since its rollout, STAAR has faced criticism from some parents, teachers, and advocacy groups who argued the high-stakes, single-exam format created undue stress for students and failed to provide timely, useful feedback to educators. The Texas Legislature has revisited the assessment system multiple times over the past decade, including modifications to graduation requirements tied to STAAR end-of-course exams, before ultimately passing HB 8 to authorize the full replacement of the system.
The release of the Texas 2036 video series coincides with the opening of the 2025-26 STAAR testing window, a timing that Pruneda indicated was intentional. As Texas students sit for what may be among the final administrations of STAAR, the organization said it hopes the videos will help families understand both the current process and what lies ahead. “These videos tell the story of why Texas is making this change and what it means for students and families,” Pruneda said.