“I don’t feel very prepared because the STAAR is mostly about reading and writing and I am not really good at those,” a Wakeland student from China said.
Approximately 272,000 people move to Texas from another country each year, meaning they have to adjust to the way of living in Texas or even learn the English language. There are many students this year at Wakeland who are from outside the U.S., and one of the many things that these people have to do when living in this state is the STAAR test. The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) is a standardized testing program that measures student achievement in core academic subjects for Texas public school students, with results used to evaluate student progress and the school’s adherence to state curriculum standards.
The STAAR also measures if students’ performance meets their grade level. Students at Wakeland are used to taking the STAAR test near the end of the school year. For others, this is a new experience and can be especially challenging if English is not your first language or if you’re from another country.
“I don’t feel very prepared because the STAAR is mostly about reading and writing, and I am not really good at those,” Wakeland student Rachel Qiu from Beijing, China said. “Ms. Pana is the ESL teacher, so she helps foreign students to improve their English, and she has been helping me improve my reading skills.”
It can be very challenging for those whose first language is not English, making it difficult when reading passages, answering spelling questions, or answering grammatical questions. Ms. Pana helps bridge language-speaking barriers and provides non-native English speakers the opportunity to learn and speak English fluently.
While English may or may not be everyone’s first language when living outside of the U.S., there can be other challenges as well.
“I have never done a STAAR test before, so I don’t know what to expect or if it’s the same as some tests in the UK,” Wakeland student Phebe Akintunde from the United Kingdom said.
It can be difficult to prepare for the STAAR if you have never taken it and don’t even know what to expect. That’s why the English teachers go over and teach some of the concepts on the STAAR to help students better prepare.
“I took it last year, but I came to the American High School just a month before the test,” Wakeland student Sabina Turzhanova from Kazakhstan said. “I feel more prepared because last year my STAAR tests went pretty well, and I know what to expect. My English teacher is going over essays as well as reviewing everything that could be on the test to help us prepare.”
The upcoming long day of English STAAR testing is on Tuesday, April 8th. The test will start at 9:00 a.m. for both ninth and tenth graders. Students taking the test will have the whole school day (up until 4:25) to take the test. The rest of the students will have a late arrival, arriving around lunch time.