Many of the ads are about immediate, if improbable, fixes for
those in financial straits. They’re just digging a hole, the ads
say. But some 575 students at A.C. Jones High School now are
discovering that proper management of their grades is just as
important as managing their finances. That’s because the new
State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) mark a
significant change in the way students are tested. Under the
previous TAKS system, ninth- and 10th-grade students who took
the tests did not worry about their scores, because tests
administered to those grades didn’t count. However, under the
STARR system, every student must take end-of-course (EOC) tests
in math, social science, science and English in order to pass.
Instead of taking only four tests under the TAKS system,
students now are expected to take — and pass — 12 tests in those
four disciplines. In order to be graduated, students must pass
their courses but also pass the STAAR test. Over three years,
that entails passing tests in Al