Assessments in Texas
For many years, the STAAR assessment has been delivered in a paper-pencil format, but beginning in the 2021/22 school year the state begins a formal transition to online testing. In the 2021/22 school year, a number of school districts will pilot the online assessments with the official state-wide implementation in the 2022/23 school year.
How Can Edcite Help Students Prepare for STAAR Tests?
To build familiarity with the technology-enhanced items used on the STAAR tests, teams can find or build the same question types on Edcite. Below is a table detailing the new online STAAR item types, the subject tests on which they will appear, a support guide on how to build the item types on Edcite, and a sample question from our library. To find additional already-built items, check out Edcite’s Question Bank.
| New Item Type | Reading Language Arts | Math | Science | Social Studies | How to build on Edcite | Sample Question on Edcite |
| Multi-select |  | | | | Multiple Choice (#005) | Sample |
| Multi- part | |  | | | Multiple Choice (#005) | Sample |
| Drag-and-drop | | | | | Fill-in-the-blanks (#002) | Sample |
| Hot Spot | | | | | Touch Image (#123) | Sample |
| Graphing | | | | | Manipulate Grouped Bar Graph (#085) | Sample |
| Equation Editor | | | | | Math Keypad (Single Answer) (#063) | Sample |
| Hot Text | | | | | Select Text from Excerpt (#007) | Sample |
| Inline Choice | | | | | Fill-in-the-blanks (#002) | Sample |
| Text Entry | | | | | Fill-in-the-blanks (#002) | Sample |
| Short Constructed Response | | | | | Free Response (#101) | Sample |
| Match Table Grid | | | | | Table Checkbox (#10) | Sample |
STAAR-aligned Interface and Tools
While Texas offers a portal for trying out the online interface and tools, Edcite provides the opportunity to blend that technology practice with your curriculum plan. Students can practice the online navigation for formative or summative assessments, morning work, exit tickets, homework, etc. Check out Edcite’s premium Texas interface along with STAAR-aligned tools below (note: all teachers can give a released STAAR test in Edcite’s premium viewer by using this link).
STAAR-aligned interface 
The ZOOM tool is available to all students and allows them to increase the size of the content on the page. 
Students can MARK a question for review 
The LINE READER is a tool that highlights a specific row of text to help students track the words that they are reading 
The MASKING TOOL allows students to cover sections of the assessment viewer with a rectangular box. This box can be moved to cover different areas of the page and removed by clicking the X in the top right corner 
The HIGHLIGHTER tool is available by dragging the cursor across text to select a portion and then right clicking to access the menu of options. Students can also use the same process to remove highlighting 
The NOTEPAD allows students to type notes as they work through the assessment. The popped up notepad can be moved around the screen once open and closed with the X in the top right corner 
Students can access a CALCULATOR on an assessment. This calculator must be turned on in the assignment settings by the teacher and can be set for just a section of the assessment or for all questions 
TEXT-TO-SPEECH is by default available for all students. This setting can be turned off on an assignment by assignment basis
For more information on how Edcite can help prepare students for the STAAR tests, check out this page.
We always welcome feedback and strive to make Edcite the best platform it can be. If you have any suggestions on how we could make your Edcite experience better, please reach out to support@edcite.com.
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