The validity of the state of Texas assessments of academic readiness in predicting middle school's rating

The A – F Accountability System, which has been adopted by 33.00% of the states, is the most widely used educational accountability system in the USA. However, it has not been adequately examined, particularly in Texas, where the results are used to make critical decisions for all public schools. The purpose of the study was to examine the predictive validity of academic achievement, as measured by the percentage of students who met the criteria for approaches or meets on the 2019 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), in predicting the overall school rating, which was confirmed by a series of Discriminant Analysis. The study was delimited to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in 1,158 middle schools. The practical significance of the findings was examined by computing the mean difference effect sizes. The contribution of none of the subject matters, namely, reading, mathematics, science, writing, and social studies could be ruled out; all were predictors of the overall school rating. Due to non-experimental nature of the investigation, no causal inferences were drawn. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.