Raise Your Hand Texas’ Statement on the Passage of House Bill 8

After a long regular session and two special sessions, the Legislature passed House Bill 8 (HB 8), creating a new statewide Student Success Tool assessment system that will be implemented in the 2027–28 school year. While this new assessment system should address some of the widespread frustrations with STAAR, the legislation leaves the fundamentals of Texas’ A-F accountability system intact. 

Raise Your Hand Texas has maintained for multiple sessions that the core shortcoming of our accountability system is its overreliance on standardized test scores produced by one test on one day. Texas needs a system with more rigorous and accurate measures of school quality. HB 8 identifies potential pathways to a broader set of school quality measures, but it will be up to future legislatures to act decisively to include more measures in campus and district ratings. 

Changes in assessment

The Student Success Tool requires beginning-, middle-, and end-of-year tests in reading language arts, math, science, and social studies. It also adds a standalone writing component in reading language arts and sets strict testing windows to minimize disruption to instruction. Additionally, HB 8 eliminates the English II end-of-course exam, limits district benchmark assessments, and requires automatic rescoring of the writing portion in certain cases. The bill expands parent access to results and allows students to substitute qualifying scores on exams such as the SAT, ACT, TSIA, AP, IB, PSAT, and Pre-ACT for end-of-course exams. It also directs the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to adopt accountability rules earlier and with greater transparency when defining cut scores. These changes will likely be welcomed by school districts and parents.

Changes in accountability

At the same time, HB 8 does not fundamentally change how the Texas accountability system works. Campuses and districts will continue to receive A through F ratings driven largely by standardized test results, graduation rates, and college, career, and military readiness indicators. About 80% of campuses, primarily elementary and middle schools, are still rated solely on standardized test performance, and HB 8 leaves that structure in place.

HB 8 requires TEA to contract with a public institution of higher education to conduct a comprehensive study of new accountability indicators. The study will examine whether performance ratings could be diversified beyond test scores to include measures such as advanced academic coursework, student engagement, workforce development, and parental involvement. The commissioner must submit the results of this study to the Legislature by December 1, 2028. While the study charts a possible path toward a more well-rounded accountability system, the findings will only serve as recommendations.

The bill also instructs TEA to develop an annual growth measure using the new assessments, but instead of requiring the implementation of this measure in the accountability ratings, HB 8 only calls for a report to state leaders in 2029. Whether growth becomes part of the accountability system remains unsettled and will require future action.

What to expect

For students and parents, the day-to-day experience may not feel dramatically different when the new system begins in the 2027–28 school year. State tests will be spread across the school year instead of concentrated only in the spring, which may feel familiar since many districts already use interim assessments. Overall testing time is expected to be somewhat shorter. The most noticeable change may be fewer district benchmark tests, as HB 8 places strict limits on how often they can be given.

Ultimately, it will be up to the Legislature to continue monitoring how testing works in our state and to decide if and how Texas can move away from relying solely on standardized tests to rate our schools.