In a few weeks, students from Dallas ISD and schools across Texas will take the 2016 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR. To ensure parents are aware of STAAR and ways they can prepare their children to perform well on the tests, the district is holding its annual STAAR Live Forum at 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 10.
The live forum is presented by the Office of Family and Community Engagement in collaboration with the divisions of Teaching and Learning and Evaluation and Assessment. It offers parents the opportunity to learn about recent changes in the examination, what is expected of students, and get answers to any questions they might have. The live forum will be conducted in English and Spanish.
Parents can view the forum from home via the Internet or Channel 98 on Time Warner Cable. Some 43 schools are also hosting watch parties where parents can view the forum alongside other parents, get help asking questions, enjoy refreshments and access resources they can use at home to help their students. To support the many languages spoken by parents at Sam Tasby Middle School, Nepali, Burmese and Arabic interpreters will attend the watch party there.
Parent Lourdes Garcia who watched last year’s live forum from Ann Richards Middle School, found it informative. “I feel this event is very helpful for parents to understand more about the STAAR,” she said.
To locate a watch party, parents can look for the STAAR Live Forum posters in district schools or visit www.dallasisd.org/staar. Regardless of where their children attend school, parents are welcome to attend any of the watch parties.
The forum will be televised live from the Dallas ISD Administration Building. Questions can be sent via e-mail to staar@dallasisd.org during the forum or in the days leading up to the event.
Parents can watch the live forum via the following channels:
- Channel 98 on Time Warner Cable
- Dallas ISD 98 on the Dallas City News Section of AT&T U-verse
- Live streaming on dallasisd.org/liveforum
