When does STAAR start?

Reading STAAR begins in 3rd grade and continues through 8th. Earlier grades use district screeners (often mCLASS or similar).

What are the performance levels?

Did Not Meet, Approaches, Meets, Masters. 'Meets' is the on-grade-level bar most schools target.

Yes — Texas moved STAAR fully online. The format includes multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, and short constructed responses.

State tests · Texas

Texas STAAR reading test: a parent's guide

STAAR — the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness — is Texas's annual reading test, starting in 3rd grade. It measures vocabulary, comprehension, and the ability to think across texts. Here's what to know and what to do at home.

What STAAR Reading measures

STAAR aligns to the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills). For reading, that means understanding literary and informational texts, vocabulary in context, author's purpose, and short written responses citing text evidence.

The four performance levels

Texas reports STAAR in four levels:

Did Not Meet: substantially below expectations
Approaches: working toward grade level
Meets: on grade level — the standard bar
Masters: above grade level

What helps at home

STAAR rewards readers who do three things well: read accurately, build a wide vocabulary, and write short answers that point back to the text. All three grow from one habit: read every day, talk about it often.

Try these this week

1
Daily 20 minutes
Mixed fiction and nonfiction. Choice on Mondays, parent pick on Wednesdays.
2
Two-sentence summary
After every chapter or article: 'In two sentences, what was that about?'
3
Cite the text
When your child shares an opinion about a story, ask: 'What in the book made you think that?'
4
Vocabulary log
Add 1–2 Tier 2 words per week to a sticky note on the fridge. Use them at dinner.

What to watch for

Strong oral comprehension but weak silent-reading comprehension — usually a vocabulary or stamina gap.
Skips short-answer questions on practice tests.
Anxiety spike in March/April — test prep should lower stakes, not raise them.

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Common questions

When does STAAR start?: Reading STAAR begins in 3rd grade and continues through 8th. Earlier grades use district screeners (often mCLASS or similar).
What are the performance levels?: Did Not Meet, Approaches, Meets, Masters. 'Meets' is the on-grade-level bar most schools target.
Is STAAR online now?: Yes — Texas moved STAAR fully online. The format includes multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, and short constructed responses.

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