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Article · For parents · ~6 min read

What to Do After a Low STAAR Score

"Did Not Meet" or "Approaches" landed in your inbox. Here's the calm, evidence-based 30-day action plan: what to say, what to do, who to call, in what order.

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First: don't panic, and don't show your kid the report

The single most damaging thing you can do in the first 48 hours is react in front of your kid. Their score doesn't change because you saw it. But how they feel about themselves as a learner can change permanently based on the look on your face right now.

Open the report after they're in bed. Read it slowly. Cry if you need to. Then close it and come back to it tomorrow with fresh eyes.

Day 1-3: Read the report carefully (don't act yet)

Past the headline performance level, there's a per-reporting-category breakdown. This is the actionable part. For grade-4 STAAR Math, the categories are things like "Numerical Representations," "Computations and Algebraic Relationships," "Geometry and Measurement," "Data Analysis." Each gets a percent-correct.

Look for:

  • The weakest category — where percent-correct is lowest. This is the target.
  • Was the overall score close to the next level up? A "Did Not Meet" 5 points below "Approaches" is different from one 40 points below. The first means a small skill gap; the second means rebuilding fundamentals.
  • How does this compare to last year's report? Trend matters more than one snapshot. A kid who went from "Approaches" to "Did Not Meet" needs a different response than one who's held steady.

Full primer on what each level means: STAAR Scores Explained.

Day 4-7: Email the teacher (template below)

Before you panic-buy a tutoring subscription, talk to the teacher who saw your kid all year. They have context the score report doesn't have. Was your kid sick that week? Did they get a new diagnosis mid-year? Are they doing fine in class but freezing on tests?

Send this email:

"Hi [teacher name], we got [kid's name]'s STAAR results and saw [Approaches / Did Not Meet] on math. I'd love your perspective — does this match what you saw in class, or was test day an outlier? Specifically, I'm wondering about [the weakest reporting category from the breakdown]. Any thoughts on what to focus on this summer? Thanks for everything."

Teachers want to help. This email gets one in 4-6 hours typically.

Day 8-14: Decide whether you need outside help

After hearing from the teacher, decide:

  • Small gap on a specific topic (e.g. fractions only) → free worksheets + daily practice can close this without paid help. Start with these.
  • Multiple gaps + low confidence → consider weekly tutoring (1:1 or small group). Budget: $30-60/hour for a college student tutor, $80-150 for a credentialed teacher.
  • Suspected learning difference (dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD) → ask the school for a Section 504 evaluation. Free, takes 4-8 weeks. Don't wait — these get harder to address with each grade.

Day 15-30: Build the routine

Whatever path you chose, the implementation looks the same: 15-20 minutes a day, 4-5 days a week, on the weakest reporting strand. Daily short beats weekly long by a wide margin. The full how-to: How to Prep for STAAR at Home.

Two months of this routine moves most kids up a full performance level. Three months moves most "Did Not Meet" kids to "Meets." This is true and well-documented; the constraint isn't possibility, it's consistency.

Will my kid be held back?

Almost certainly no. Texas eliminated the mandatory grade-3 reading retest in 2021, and grade-5 / grade-8 retests are optional in most districts. Grade promotion is decided by the district based on multiple factors (grades, teacher recommendation, attendance, STAAR) — not by STAAR alone.

The exception: high-school End-of-Course exams. Students must score at least "Approaches" on five EOC tests to graduate. If your kid is in high school and got "Did Not Meet," they'll need to retake — the December and June EOC windows exist for this.

The conversation to have with your kid

When you do tell them — and you should, eventually — here's the framing that works:

"We got your STAAR results. It showed your teachers what to focus on for next year, which is what the test is for. The part that wasn't as strong was [specific topic, neutral tone]. So this summer we're going to do 15 minutes of [topic] practice a few times a week. Same as the soccer drills you did for tryouts — just for math."

Notes on what's doing the work in that script:

  • "Showed your teachers" — frames the test as informational, not evaluative
  • "The part that wasn't as strong" — names the gap without naming the kid as the problem
  • "Like soccer drills" — analogy to something they already accept as normal practice for improvement
  • No mention of "passing" or "failing"

What NOT to do

  • Don't blame the teacher — it's never fully their fault, and your kid hears it anyway.
  • Don't sign up for 5 different tutoring services — pick one, do it for 8 weeks, then evaluate.
  • Don't drill flashcards all summer — burnout kills retention. Daily short, gamified is better.
  • Don't promise a reward for "passing" next year — turns intrinsic motivation into stress. Small consistent rewards for daily practice work better.

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