New Staar Test Delayed For Grades 5, 8

Fifth and eighth-graders will get a one-year reprieve from having to pass a high-stakes math assessment, the Texas Education Agency announced Friday. Texas rolled out new curriculum standards in mathematics for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness in April 2012, but the transition hasn't gone smoothly, officials said. "There are substantial challenges associated with implementation of the revised mathematics statewide curriculum standards in the STAAR grades 3–8 assessments," Commissioner Michael Williams said in a prepared statement.