TPERN Demands Lake Dallas ISD Stop Threatening Parents

March 13, 2024
We recently received the below letter from Lake Dallas Middle School telling parents that due to scores on district and state practice assessments, their kids had been deemed in danger of not passing STAAR (Oh the horror!) and were required to attend after school tutorials under threat of detention, ISS or possibly other punitive measures.  […]

Why I Opted Out

March 1, 2024
From the Facebook group Texans Take Action Against STAAR, an opt out kid now at Texas A&M reflects on why she went from Mastering her STAAR assessments to refusing to take them!

Carroll ISD Formally Recognizes Parental Refusal Rights

February 24, 2024
This is a big one folks!  To be clear: it doesn’t change the law or  TEA positions.  This is simply an almost word for word regurgitation of what the TEA has been permitting for three years now.  It does not break new ground.  It communicates existing guidance and options.  But it is a BIG ONE! […]

New Letter – Requesting Facilitated Refusal

February 13, 2024
Patrons, this is our first big new letter in a long time!  Given the TEA’s guidance on accepting parental refusals, we have drafted a very conciliatory letter asking the school to accept our refusal without putting the kid in the room with the assessment.  This should be sent after the school replies to your opt […]

HB 1416 Opt Out of AI

August 16, 2023
Well toss the old HB 4545 letters away!  As we have been discussing, the Texas legislature did a big revamp on HB 4545 accelerated instruction with the HB 1416 amendments.  The most important change was to grant a broader and more explicit opt out right to parents.  After HB 4545, the TEA recognized an opt […]

Telling the Truth – Kudos to Lamar CISD!

April 24, 2023
During this time of the year, we hear so many terrible stories of teachers and administrators lying to parents and harassing them and sometimes their kids over their opt out decisions.  It’s the worst at the high school level, where the “you can’t graduate without STAAR” lie is yielded like a hammer. (Read here to […]

SUCCESS! Middle school and high school opt outs facilitated!

April 13, 2023
From S.B. Plano ISD This year, I submitted my refusal letter to my 8th grader’s principal and counselor.. Initially, I received “Received” as a reply from the principal. After a couple of weeks, I emailed again asking his preference on what to do with my child on administration days. He told me to fill out […]

Success: High School Graduation via Sub Assessments!

April 13, 2023
Our younger daughter graduated from high school last May. She hadn’t taken a STAAR Assessment since 5th grade. We used substitute assessments, IGC for US History, and she received the Covid waivers. Her US History IGC project was a report about the Civil Rights era. She spun it to include our decision to practice civil […]

2023 Accountability and Assessment Bills – As of 1/15/23

January 21, 2023
HOUSE BILLS AS OF 1/15/2023 The following bills have been filed to date in the Texas House of Representatives. Our position is always subject to change as bills progress and legislative analysis or hearings take place.  If you are aware of any other accountability or assessment bills, please contact us at txedrights@gmail.com HB 748, 1225 […]

Individual Graduation Committee for all-Non STAAR Testers (Entered HS pre 2011)

October 27, 2022
Editor’s Note: TxEdRights wishes to thank TTAAS member Jeff Cranmore for contributing this guide for students who were denied a high school diploma due to pre-STAAR testing requirements.  This guide will help TAKS/TAAS students who completed their credits but did not pass one or more exit exams navigate the process to a high school diploma. […]

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