Thousands of Texas students are about to have their STAAR exams graded by a computer, a cost-cutting measure that saves the state millions but has educators and parents questioning the machine's ability to match human nuance. The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) has undergone significant changes, now including an "automated scoring engine" to handle open-ended questions on reading, writing, science, and social studies tests, according to the Texas Tribune.
In the past year, the STAAR test was redesigned to feature fewer multiple-choice questions and more constructed response items, as schools navigate the efficacy and fairness of using technology to grade students. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) anticipates the new system will save $15 million to $20 million annually. Jose Rios, director of student assessment at TEA, stated that they wanted to keep as many open-ended questions as possible, despite the longer scoring time associated with them. Last year, TEA hired roughly 6,000 temporary scorers, but this year, they will need less than 2,000, thanks to the automation.
The technology relies on natural language processing, akin to artificial intelligence chatbots like GPT-4, but TEA officials insist the scoring engine is not AI in the traditional sense as it won't "learn" from one response to the next but will always refer to its original programming. "We are way far away from anything that's autonomous or can think on its own," division director for assessment development at the TEA, Chris Rozunick, told the Texas Tribune.
However, the shift to automation has been met with skepticism in academic communities. "If this model allows the students writing to be graded more objectively rather than subjectively, it could be a benefit of students, but I'm not sure. We don't know yet what this will be like," Eula Elementary principal Mika Damron expressed in hope mixed with apprehension, as reported by FOX San Antonio. Concerns grow particularly as Texas students have struggled with the writing component of the exam, with 46% of fourth graders scoring zero last year.
Despite the TEA's assurances of systematic human oversight, anxiety runs high among educators in the face of this high-stakes test's impact on district and individual campus grading. There's a "feeling that everything happens to students and to schools and to teachers and not for them or with them," Carrie Griffith, a policy specialist for the Texas State Teachers Association, told the Texas Tribune. Results of the STAAR are crucial for Texas education, potentially triggering state intervention in underperforming campuses or districts, making the efficacy of the new grading system all the more pivotal.
