Texas is getting ready to change how it measures what students know. Lawmakers have approved a plan to swap out the long, single‑day STAAR exam for a through‑year set of tests called the Student Success Tool, scheduled to fully kick in during the 2027–28 school year. For San Antonio‑area parents and school leaders, that means a new testing rhythm, but it does not yet guarantee that a campus’s public A–F grade will stop riding on a single end‑of‑year snapshot.
What Changes and When It Hits Classrooms
House Bill 8 directs the Texas Education Agency to phase out STAAR and roll in an instructionally supportive set of beginning‑, middle‑ and end‑of‑year assessments known in statute as the Student Success Tool, with the full transition planned for 2027–28, according to the Texas Education Agency. The law also makes some end‑of‑course exams optional and instructs TEA to update testing calendars and support materials as the new system comes online. In grades 3–8, locally administered shorter assessments will take the place of the single, longer summative test that students sit for now.
Why Advocates Say A–F Still Misses the Point
Advocates say that cutting one big exam into three smaller ones does not, by itself, change what the state ultimately counts when it assigns A–F grades. A survey from Raise Your Hand Texas found that 83% of respondents said schools should not be graded only on STAAR performance, according to Raise Your Hand Texas, and that result is featured in a local sponsored piece from Community Impact about San Antonio‑area campuses.
Local Educators Say Test Design Still Matters
“Because accountability ratings are based on a single test on one day, you miss the bigger picture,” Libby Cohen of Raise Your Hand Texas told Community Impact, arguing that A–F scores drive resource and staffing decisions at the campus level. Christopher Scott Sierra, a former San Antonio ISD teacher, told the same outlet that the new assessment “will be the same” in practice and warned that confusing questions nudge students toward test‑taking strategies instead of showing what they have actually learned.
Beyond Scores: Teachers, Pay and Program Choices
Student outcomes tied to standardized tests also feed into the Teacher Incentive Allotment, the statewide program that helps districts designate and compensate top teachers, according to the official TIA Texas site. A–F ratings in turn shape district priorities, and coverage of the bill noted that optional non‑testing indicators would be made public but kept outside the core A–F formula, as reported by MySA.
What Parents and Districts Should Watch Next
The Texas Education Agency says it will publish the proposed A–F Accountability Rating System manual for public comment later in 2026 and will release 2026 and 2027 “what‑if” ratings so districts can preview how the refreshed rules might change campus scores, based on the agency’s updated 2028 framework. The Texas Education Agency notes that the manual will be posted with a formal public comment window before the rules become final.
The Student Success Tool is designed to give more frequent snapshots of learning. Whether San Antonio schools end up with a fuller and fairer public picture will depend on how state rulemaking weights any new indicators and whether optional measures gain real accountability power. Parents and local leaders who want a say in how schools are judged will need to watch TEA’s calendar and speak up during the public comment period.
