The history of statewide achievement testing in Texas

The "high-stakes" nature of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) evolved from earlier implementations of assessments explicitly linked to th e Texas curriculum. A major focus of the GI Forum v. Texas Education Agency (1999) litigation challenged the assessment on this curricular link as wel l as other "opportunity to learn" issues. In this article, we provide a chr onological summary of the evolution of these assessments in Texas. This con textual background facilitates understanding of the issues behind the litig ation as we review the increasingly high-stakes nature of assessment in Tex as from 1980 to present. Roles of the Texas State Legislature, the Texas St ate Board of Education, and the Texas Education Agency are also explained. The review provided in this article outlines how, as the assessments evolve d, the procedures, process, and technical documentation expanded. These pro cedures and documentation provided the evidence needed to successfully defe nd the TAAS assessment program in federal court.