AI Grader for Texas STAAR
EssayGrader, a rubric-based AI essay grading platform for K-12 and higher-education teachers, grades your STAAR practice essays against a Texas STAAR rubric and returns a score and written feedback for each criterion.
Key details
According to TEA’s Spring 2026 scoring guides, the STAAR essay rubric has 5 points and two different scorers’ scores are summed, so a student can earn up to 10 points.
Detail
STAAR reading language arts
Test
State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR)
Written task
One extended constructed response (the essay), written in response to a reading passage
Grades
3 to 8, English I and English II
Rubric
5 points: development and organization of ideas, 0 to 3; language conventions, 0 to 2
Essay score
Two different scorers' scores are summed, for up to 10 points
Modes in the Spring 2026 guides
Informational and argumentative
Next grades 3 to 8 reading language arts window
April 5 to 16, 2027
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Sources: Texas Education Agency (TEA), Spring 2026 scoring guides; TEA, Scoring Process for STAAR Constructed Responses (December 2023); TEA, 2026-2027 STAAR Test Administrator Manual.
STAAR rubrics in the grader
EssayGrader’s grader holds eight Texas STAAR rubrics, covering grades 3 to 8 and English I and II in informational and argumentative modes. Each one is scored on TEA’s two traits.
1
Texas STAAR Grades 3-5 Informational Rubric
Grade band 3-5, for teachers grading informational essays
2
Texas STAAR Grades 3-5 Argumentative/Opinion Rubric
Grade band 3-5, for teachers grading argumentative/opinion-based essays
3
Texas STAAR Grades 3-5 Spanish Informational Writing Rubric
Grade band 3-5, for teachers grading informational essays
Practice only: TEA scores STAAR Spanish essays with human scorers.
4
Texas STAAR Grades 3-5 Spanish Argumentative/Opinion Rubric
Grade band 3-5, for teachers grading argumentative/opinion-based essays
Practice only: TEA scores STAAR Spanish essays with human scorers.
5
Texas STAAR RLA Argumentative/Opinion Writing Rubric (Grades 6-8)
Grade band 6-8, for teachers grading argumentative/opinion-based essays
6
Texas STAAR RLA Argumentative/Opinion Writing Rubric (English I-II)
Grade band English I-II, for teachers grading argumentative/opinion-based essays
7
Texas STAAR Grade 6 - English II Informational Rubric
Grade band 6 to English II, for teachers grading informational essays
8
Texas STAAR Grade 6 - English II Argumentative/Opinion Rubric
Grade band 6 to English II, for teachers grading argumentative/opinion-based essays
Where students earn their score points
The STAAR essay rubric has two traits, and the first one decides the second.
(0 to 3 points)
Development and organization of ideas
It scores based on how clearly the central idea is developed in a response, how well the ideas within the essay are organized and how specific the evidence is to the point made.
(0 to 2 points)
Language conventions
It scores command of grade-level conventions (spelling, punctuation, grammar) and whether errors affect clarity.
How STAAR scores a written answer, and what changes after spring 2027
TEA scores STAAR written answers with an automated scoring engine and human scorers (TEA, December 2023), and House Bill 8 replaces STAAR from the 2027-28 school year (TEA, August 2026).
Is STAAR graded by AI?
Partly: TEA scores English STAAR written answers first with an automated scoring engine, and at least 25 percent of responses are then routed to human scorers (TEA, December 2023).
The Texas Education Agency’s engine scores constructed responses first. Those are the written answers on the test (TEA, December 2023).
Sometimes, the engine isn’t confident on what score to give. When that happens, a trained human scorer reads the answer. Also, if the response is in another language, is too short, or uses unfamiliar vocabulary, the engine flags it as unusual, and it goes to the human scorer. Then the score given by the human scorer becomes the score of record (TEA, December 2023).
TEA says the engine, unlike AI, does not adapt or teach itself (TEA, Hybrid Scoring Key Questions, March 2024), while the Texas Tribune (April 9, 2024) reported that it uses natural language processing.
TEA’s Hybrid Scoring Key Questions (March 2024) says the engine assigns the score of record for about 75 percent of responses, and the rest go to two human scorers, with an adjudication process when they disagree.
TEA’s Spring 2026 scoring guides give the essay score as the sum of two scorers’ scores, up to 10 points.
STAAR written answer
Scored first by
Human scoring
English-language constructed responses
Automated scoring engine
At least 25% of responses, including every low-confidence or flagged response
Spanish-language constructed responses
Human scorers
100%
Rescore requests
Human scorers
100%
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EssayGrader is not TEA’s scoring engine and does not predict an official STAAR score.
What the Spring 2026 essay prompts asked
TEA’s Spring 2026 scoring guides show the writing mode for each grade.
Grade
Spring 2026 writing mode
3
Argumentative/opinion
4
Informational
5
Argumentative/opinion
6
Informational
7
Informational
8
Argumentative/opinion, with a counterargument required
English I
Informational
English II
Informational
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TEA’s STAAR redesign page also lists correspondence, a letter, as a third mode; the Spring 2026 scoring guides name two.
What changes after spring 2027
House Bill 8 repeals STAAR and replaces it with the Student Success Tool (SST) from the 2027-28 school year (TEA, August 2026).
Once spring 2027 is done, the end-of-year reading language arts SST has just one extended constructed-response item, and the writing part is given in April (TEA, House Bill 8 FAQ, August 2026).
The essay gets a smaller rubric, too. TEA’s Spring 2026 House Bill 8 update says it goes from 10 points to 6, with a zero kept for blank or nonsense responses, and short constructed responses are gone altogether.
If you want a head start, the Texas Education Agency has already posted draft SST writing rubrics for grades 3 to 5, in English and Spanish, and for grades 6 to English I (House Bill 8: Student Assessment). They’re still drafts, so some details could change before the first test.
English II works a little differently. Students enrolled in English II in 2026-27 still take the English II test, but students who graduate after August 31, 2027, no longer need it (TEA, House Bill 8 FAQ, August 2026).
Until then, grades 3 to 8 STAAR practice uses the 5-point rubric above.
How to practice
Grade a set of practice essays in five steps and see where students lose points.
1
Pick the Spring 2026 STAAR writing prompt for the grade you teach, and have students write to it in class.
2
In the grader, choose the STAAR rubric for your students’ grade band, such as Grades 3-5.
3
Upload your students’ essays to the grader as files, or paste the text straight in.
4
Read the score and feedback for each criterion, and review every score before you finalize it.
5
Compare a borderline essay with the annotated responses in TEA’s guide, then pick one trait to work on in the next draft.
Texas standards (TEKS)
The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) are the state’s academic standards for what STAAR assesses.
EssayGrader’s paid Academic Standards feature covers all 50 U.S. state standards to measure student writing mastery.
Official TEA sources
These are the official TEA documents behind this page.
Frequently asked questions?
These are the questions Texas teachers ask most about STAAR essay scoring.
How is the STAAR essay scored?
The STAAR essay is scored based on two traits for 5 points on the rubric: development and organization of ideas (0 to 3 points), and language conventions (0 to 2 points) (TEA, Spring 2026 scoring guides). TEA scores English essays first with a scoring engine, and at least 25 percent of responses are routed to human scorers, whose score becomes the score of record (TEA, December 2023). The essay score is the sum of two scorers’ scores, up to 10 points (TEA, Spring 2026 scoring guides).
What is the highest score on the STAAR essay?
The highest score on the STAAR essay rubric is 5 points. As two different scorers’ scores are summed, the essay can earn up to 10 points (TEA, Spring 2026 scoring guides).
Are STAAR Spanish tests scored by AI?
No, STAAR Spanish tests are not scored by AI. TEA scores STAAR Spanish constructed responses with human scorers only (TEA, December 2023).
Can a STAAR essay be rescored?
Yes, a STAAR essay can be rescored. District testing personnel request a rescore, then rescores go to a human scorer, and the fee is waived if the score changes (TEA, December 2023). TEA also rescores by hand any reading language arts essay that is one point from the next performance level, beginning with the December 2025 administration (TEA, Spring 2026 House Bill 8 update).
Is STAAR going away?
Yes. House Bill 8 replaces STAAR with the Student Success Tool from the 2027-28 school year (TEA, August 2026). The grades 3 to 8 reading language arts STAAR window in spring 2027 is April 5 to 16 (TEA, 2026-2027 STAAR Test Administrator Manual).
Does EssayGrader score the same way as the STAAR scoring engine?
EssayGrader does not predict an official STAAR score, so technically it does not score the same way as the STAAR scoring engine does. EssayGrader is a classroom practice tool, and it scores essays based on the rubric you choose or upload.