Texas Senators have harsh words for STAAR exam

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Senate education panel spent hours Tuesday maligning the state's standardized testing system, even questioning whether it's appropriate to ask youngsters across sun-kissed South Texas math problems about the possibility of frost forming on their sidewalks.

By the end of the meeting, it seemed the exam stood only a snowball's chance in Brownville of surviving the legislative session without a major overhaul.

Members of the state Senate Education Committee demanded answers on the exam regime known as the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, particularly asking why so many high school...