Texas STAAR rescoring requests triple as schools question computer grading

Who's involved

• Texas Education AgencyState agency that implemented automated scoring and conducts manual reviews
• Allison MatneyDirector of Texas Center for School Accountability
• Jake KoberskyTexas Education Agency spokesperson

The facts

• Spring 2026 rescoring requests reached 64,489, compared to 21,620 last year and 2,758 in spring 2024.^{1 2 3} Stated by 3 sources
• Texas Education Agency began using automated scoring engine in December 2023 for open-ended questions on STAAR reading and English tests.^{1 2} Stated by 2 sources
• Humans manually review a quarter of exam scores under the current system.^{1 2} Stated by 2 sources
• State improved more than 13,300 reading scores after manual reviews this year.^{1 2 3} Stated by 3 sources
• Of corrected scores, 58% were initially graded by computers and 42% by humans.^{1 2 3} Stated by 3 sources
• Humans conducted all rescores; no student scores were lowered during the review process.^{1 2 3} Stated by 3 sources

Who said what

These are statements and claims made by the people involved. They are reported, not verified.

• Allison Matney Increase in rescoring requests due to greater awareness about automated scoring process.^{1 2}
• Jake Kobersky Hand-scoring essays would require four to five times more human scorers and cost additional $15-20 million annually.^{1 2}
• Jake Kobersky Automated scoring is different from generative AI; the program does not learn from one response to the next.^{1 2}
• Texas Education Agency officials Low scores in 2023 caused by factors including many students re-taking the exam, not automated scoring flaw.^{1 2}