Preparing for the Student Success Tool
Texas is replacing STAAR with the Student Success Tool (SST). Daily Writing a Day builds the writing it will ask for, a few minutes at a time, all year.
The timeline
- STAAR stays in place through 2026–27, the year this calendar covers.
- Under House Bill 8, SST begins in 2027–28 with beginning-of-year (BOY), middle-of-year (MOY), and end-of-year (EOY) assessments. Grades 3–8 use all three checkpoints.
- BOY and MOY are adaptive. EOY is static, so its questions can be released.
- RLA writing has its own April window, before other EOY testing in May. Results must reach districts within two business days after a window closes.
Details and the current draft blueprints are on TEA's House Bill 8 Student Assessment page. See the draft Grade 3 RLA blueprint for an example.
What the RLA blueprints ask for
The RLA blueprints group assessed TEKS into two reporting strands, reading and writing. BOY and MOY use inline-choice, multipart, multiple-choice, and multiselect questions. The EOY summative adds an extended constructed response. Regular evidence-based writing, revision, and editing prepare students for that better than a late burst of test practice.
| SST asks students to… | Where Daily Writing a Day practices it |
|---|---|
| Choose the correct form of a word or punctuation in a sentence (inline choice, multiple choice) | Fix It, every day. The week's focus plus spiraled review covers capitalization, punctuation, verb forms, agreement, and commonly confused words. |
| Pick the best way to revise a sentence or paragraph for clarity, detail, or transitions | Wednesday revise: a weak model and one named craft move, such as combining sentences, adding a transition, or replacing a vague word. |
| Find every error or every strong choice (multiselect) | Fix It tells students how many errors to find, which builds the habit of searching the whole sentence. |
| Write an extended constructed response with a clear idea, organization, and evidence | The week's genre cycle: informational and argument weeks move from plan to draft to revision. The research week (33) practices using and citing sources. |
| Edit their own writing | Friday edit & share: students edit their own piece for the week's convention. |
K–2: SST starts in grade 3. The K–2 band builds the foundation it depends on: complete sentences, capitals and end marks, and the habit of planning, drafting, and sharing.
Three checkpoints, one teaching loop
When SST arrives, its checkpoints line up with places already in this calendar. You can practice the loop this year with Friday pieces.
| Checkpoint | Teacher move | Use from this calendar |
|---|---|---|
| BOY | Find a baseline and unfinished learning | Friday pieces from weeks 2–4: complete sentences, capitals and end marks, and a first narrative and informational piece. |
| MOY | Regroup, reteach, and adjust scaffolds | Weeks 18–19 (January): run-ons, complex and compound sentences, and the first argument week of the spring. |
| EOY | Check mastery and growth; tell the next teacher | Weeks 34–37 (May): fragments and run-ons review, then mixed review across the whole year. |
Make the thinking visible with ACE
The ACE the SST routine from the Learning Activities Hub fits the Friday share:
- Articulate: read one sentence you fixed and say what you changed.
- Connect: name the rule or craft move behind it.
- Extend: how would the sentence change for a different reader or genre?
SST details are summarized from TEA's House Bill 8 Student Assessment resources and the Learning Activities Hub roadmap From STAAR to SST. Blueprints are drafts: confirm current TEA guidance, and keep teaching every student expectation in full, not only those on a blueprint.