In fulfillment of the requirements of House Bill 3 passed by the 81st Texas Legislature and incorporated into Texas Education Code (TEC) Chapter 39, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) developed the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR). STAAR is a more rigorous assessment program that provides the foundation for a new accountability system for Texas public education.
STAAR replaced the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) in spring 2012. The STAAR program at grades 3–8 assesses the same subjects and grades that were assessed on TAKS.
At high school, however, grade-specific assessments were replaced with end-of-course (EOC) assessments. House Bill 5, passed by the 82nd Texas Legislature, lowered the end-of-course requirements from 15 assessments to 5 assessments: Algebra I, Biology, English I, English II, and U.S. History. STAAR EOC began with the entering 2011-12 9th graders.
