“Reading will always be the foundation that determines success in the classroom for every child at every grade level.”
— Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath
About STAAR's Dictionary Policy
STAAR testing requirements state that a dictionary must be available to all students taking the following tests:
- STAAR grades 3–8 reading language arts (RLA)
- STAAR Spanish grades 3-5 RLA
- STAAR English I and English II
*Although thesauruses are not required, they are allowable on all the tests listed above, either in combination with a dictionary or as a separate resource.
Minimum requirement: 1 dictionary for every 5 students.
State recommendation: 1 dictionary for every 3 students.
Optimally: 1 dictionary for each student.
STAAR allows the following: standard dictionaries in English or the language most appropriate for the student, dictionary/thesaurus combinations, bilingual dictionaries including word-to-word translations, ESL dictionaries, sign language dictionaries, and picture dictionaries.
Educators can choose the age appropriate dictionary for their classroom.
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