Lawmakers give STAAR test thumbs-down

AUSTIN (AP/KXAN) - Education leaders in the Texas House are airing grievances and raising long-term questions about the state's new standardized test.

But they also have acknowledged that growing pains are common when implementing a new statewide academic testing system.

The House Public Education Committee spent hours Tuesday scrutinizing the test known as STAAR -- State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness.

Much of the discussion focused on just how poorly the first round of ninth graders to take the test did.

Final test standards are being implemented gradually through 2016. But if they were in place today, more than half of Texas high school freshmen would have failed in five key areas.

For instance, when ninth-graders' scores were judged against final standards, the biology passing rate was 41 percent. It was 39 percent for algebra.