One of the most common questions we get involves whether Opt Out is possible when you are attending a school other than your local neighborhood school.  This is a valid question, because your situation in a charter school, a magnet school, or as a transfer or online student is different than when you are attending […]

On July 25, 2025 the proposed update to the substitute assessment chart completed the rulemaking process and became effective.  A copy of the new chart is embedded below. ‘ The revision of the chart was necessary due to the elimination of the SAT Subject tests and changes to the ACT assessment program for students taking […]

Updated – February 26, 2026  Are schools required to provide you with access to substitute assessments? No.  Although many schools do offer PSAT, SAT or TSI (often without charge), they are not required to.  If your school does, by all means use that resource, but ultimately, the parent wanting to use substitute assessments is responsible […]

We’ve previously posted online why we are not convinced that HB 4 is any real improvement to the STAAR assessment system.  In a nutshell, it does not remove high stakes (no matter what the house members said), though it was positive in that it moved away from state created assessments to nationally norm-referenced assessments and […]

So it’s opt out time for STAAR.  We’ve already told you that the school is not going to “agree” that you can opt out.  Now that doesn’t mean you can’t opt out.  In fact, some schools play the game of pretending that refusing to participate (your option) is not opting out.  It is.  They don’t […]

Facebook has decided to block a direct link to this document for reasons only their algorithm know.  So I am placing it in this article for your use and review.  This confirms again that the TEA does not require schools to put the assessment in front of your kid.  It does not require that they […]

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.  […]

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!

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! […]

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 […]