STANDARDS-BASED Questioning

STAAR is the floor—not the ceiling.

The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) define what students should know and be able to do. While STAAR measures student proficiency, the goal of instruction should extend beyond a single assessment. Students deserve opportunities to engage in the same thinking required for success on STAAR, TSIA2, SAT, ACT, AP coursework, college, careers, and life beyond the classroom.

Standards-Based Questions (SBQs) are designed to develop that thinking. Rather than teaching students to recognize test wording, SBQs help students consistently practice the cognitive demands embedded within the TEKS.

Standards-Based Questions (SBQs) are designed to elicit the cognitive work of a TEKS without relying on STAAR-specific wording or item formats.

Because assessments evolve over time, effective instruction must remain anchored to the standard—not the test stem. SBQs require students to perform the exact thinking demanded by the TEKS while allowing teachers to use any text, topic, or instructional resource.

Think of STAAR stems as a test format. Think of SBQs as a standards engine.

When instruction is built around cognitive demand rather than temporary wording, student learning remains stable—even when assessments change.

Each Standards-Based Question document contains TEKS-aligned questions designed to promote the cognitive work required by the standard.

These questions:

• Are written directly from the TEKS cognitive demand.
• Can be used with any text, passage, article, novel, or instructional resource.
• Support lesson planning, small-group instruction, PLC discussions, and formative assessment.
• Provide a consistent questioning framework that can be revisited throughout the school year.
• Help teachers focus on student thinking rather than test-specific wording.

The text may change. The thinking remains the same.

Select a grade level below to download Standards-Based Questions aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).

Each document is organized by standard and designed to help teachers consistently elicit the cognitive work required by the TEKS across lessons, units, and assessments.

The goal is not to teach students how to answer a question.

The goal is to teach students how to think in ways that transfer across texts, assessments, grade levels, and future learning experiences.

Standards-Based Questions help make that possible.