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Background 

Due to changes from House Bill 8 (HB 8), 89th Texas Legislature, 2nd Called Session, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) test is being discontinued, with the last full year of implementation being the 2026–27 school year. A new set of shorter progress monitoring assessments, which may be referred to as the Student Success Tool (SST), will replace STAAR starting in the 2027–28 school year.

This new SST system will include short, adaptive beginning-of-year (BOY) and middle-of-year (MOY) assessments to show progress during the year, along with an end-of-year (EOY) assessment. Under HB 8, the Â鶹ԭ´´ must provide a BOY, MOY, and EOY assessment for school systems to use. While school systems must use the new EOY assessment provided by Â鶹ԭ´´, they may use alternative assessments for the BOY and MOY assessments.

With this correspondence, Â鶹ԭ´´ announces the upcoming launch of an application process to solicit, identify, and approve assessments to be placed on the Commissioner’s List of Approved Alternative BOY and MOY Assessments. Approved BOY and MOY assessments will be eligible for statewide use beginning in the 2027–28 school year.

Access to Application Materials

Starting on May 8, 2026, all solicitation materials will be available on the Call for House Bill 8 (HB 8) Alternative BOY & MOY Assessment Instruments web page, including:

• The Request for Alternative BOY and MOY Assessments packet
• Application forms and submission instructions
• Updates and posted responses to submitted questions

Informational Webinars

Â鶹ԭ´´ will host an optional informational webinar providing an overview of the Request for Alternative BOY and MOY Assessments packet and application requirements:

• May 12, 2026, 11:00 a.m. CT—Informational Webinar (Zoom)

Registration links are available in the Key Dates section of this correspondence as well as on the Call for House Bill 8 (HB 8) Alternative BOY & MOY Assessment Instruments web page.

Attendance is optional and not required for application submission.

Questions and Answers

Questions regarding the Request for Alternative BOY and MOY Assessments must be submitted exclusively through the . Only questions submitted via the survey will be reviewed and responded to. Â鶹ԭ´´ will compile and respond to all submitted questions at once, and responses will be posted as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the Call for House Bill 8 (HB 8) Alternative BOY & MOY Assessment Instruments web page. Deadlines for submitting questions and the posting date for responses are included in the Key Dates section of this correspondence.

Key Dates 

The following dates outline the application timeline and review process.