<P> The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, commonly referred to as its acronym STAAR (/ stɑːr / STAR), are a series of state - mandated standardized tests used in Texas public primary and secondary schools to assess a student's achievements and knowledge learned in the grade level . It tests curriculum taught from the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, which in turn is taught by public schools . The test used to be developed by Pearson Education every school year, although the most recent contract gave Educational Testing Service a role in creating some of the tests, under the close supervision of the Texas Education Agency . </P> <P> The test was announced because the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (commonly referred to its acronym TAKS) assessment was repealed by Texas Senate Bill 1031 in spring 2007 . The bill called for secondary schools (for grades 9 - 11) to take end of course assessments every time a student was at the end of taking a course, instead of taking general "core subject" tests . STAAR mostly replaced the TAKS in the spring of 2012, although students who entered 10th grade before the 2011 - 2012 school year continued to take the TAKS . This process is part of the TAKS to STAAR transition plan . In 2015 the last students had taken the TAKS test, so the first students will graduate with a completed STAAR end of course assessments . However, many policies from the TAKS are still withheld in the STAAR's policies for practical purposes . </P>

What is the point of the staar test