If you think that STAAR tests help students, you would be mistaken. There are multiple major problems with it, such as coming too early, not comparing to other tests, and other things. From an essay made by the Texas State Teachers Association, “Tests can be meaningful tools to improve instruction and student learning, but STAAR doesn’t do this. It simply measure’s a student’s ability to pass a STAAR test. It is not helping students learn. It is forcing talented educators to abandon meaningful lesson plans to teach to the test. Our teachers and students can no longer afford to waste valuable instruction time — and our tax dollars — on the misguided STAAR exercise.” To start, teachers have to waste time teaching meaningless things. As an example of this, last year’s 8th Grade social studies STAAR Test had questions about a group known as the Know Nothings. The problem is, almost no teachers taught their students about the Know Nothings because they didn’t know. That forced them to teach it this year, messing up the schedule they already had. Even worse is that most STAAR Tests take place in April, instead during the end of the year. This gives teachers even less time to teach what they need to know. Research from the Texas School of Alliance states, “something is not right with our state’s current STAAR exam. The results of this test are not telling the entire story. STAAR reading results have shown very little improvement since 2012, which is inconsistent with all previous tests in Texas over the past 30 years.” So not only do the tests take place too early, they are not as good as other tests Texas has used over the years. The STAAR Tests are not good for students, and need to be improved, but what do you think?