Tell me again...How many do I have to get right to pass the STAAR?

Hello! I hope I’m not sounding ignorant, but I am trying to figure out how many questions the students have to get right on the English I & II EOC.  Can you help me?  Also I have been working on the composition rubric with my kids that ranges from 1-4, but I have been pulling up STAAR rubrics that show the composition  score ranging 1-8.  Now I am confused.  Can you help me figure the rubric for the composition and how questions are needed for passing?  Thanks, XXXXXXXXXX

Interesting question. It’s not ignorant at all. I’m going to CC Sherry on this one to make sure I don’t mess this up. It’s complicated.

Basically, it depends.

1. It depends on what they make on the essay.
2. It depends on what the state decides is the difficulty range of the text and test itself compared to previous years (how they scale the test and select the cut points)
3. It depends on whether the kids took the test on paper or on computer. It depends on what accommodation features for the version of computer test they take. (There's a different scale for each version of the test.) 
4. It also depends on what level you are wishing them to achieve: meets approaches, exceeds.
5. You also have to attend to growth in scale score required from the previous year’s individual test results.

To start, you look at the raw score conversion tables to get a guestimate on what might be required. Last year, they had to get 39 correct to pass. (Sort of. More on that later.) Other years it is more. Sometimes less. Usually within 3-5 items. You also have to account for the essay score. Here is the link to 2017-1018: 

For the Essay

For the essay, you are correct in both statements. Yes. The scores are 1-4. Yes. You will see ranges from 1-8. Confusing for sure. Each paper is scored two times. Each person gives the paper a score from 1-4. Then those scores are added together to reach a total from 1-8.

As if that’s not confusing enough, to calculate passing for the whole test, the total score for both raters (1-8) is multiplied times 2. So for English 1 and 2, the essay is worth up to 16 points.

Weighting

Now you add in another factor: the weighting.

The written composition is worth 24% of the test. So they can bomb the essay or write nothing and still pass.

Revising and editing is worth 26% of the test with 18 questions.

Reading is worth 50% with 34 questions.
And then you add in the  10 or so field test items that will be for revising and editing as well as for reading.

Playing Games

You can start playing games like: I’ll get half of the reading questions correct for 25% of the test and nail the 26% for the revising and editing and get a 2 from both raters and multiply that times 2 for a total of 8 which would now make my essay worth half of the 24 points and have 64 percent passing rate. I’d have 18 plus 17 plus 8 to get a raw score of 43. Which would mean I would pass if the cut scores are the same as last year. Maybe. IF the questions I am counting on getting correct are NOT the field test items. So, ultimately, it is impossible to predict how many items they will have to get correct to pass.

Don't Count Items

Which means…drumroll…you can’t count up questions kids think they are going to get right so they know if they need to keep working. I don’t think we want kids spending time counting percentages and numbers of questions and raw score cut points to see if they are going to pass. They’d be better off reading and writing and thinking and doing a two finger check on their answer document.  

From Sherry Clark: 

Shona is correct in the information she provided.  Basically, there are 68 possible points to earn on the English I and II EOC tests.  The multiple choice items are worth 1 point each, where the composition is worth 16 points. 

For 7^th grade writing, there are 46 possible points.  The composition score is doubled, so it accounts for 16 of the 46 points.

For the 4^th writing, there are 32 possible points.  The composition score is not doubled, so it accounts for 8 of the 32 points.

Here’s a short table to summarize:

But remember - there are weighting charts for 4th and 7th grade too.