Preparing for Texas State Testing with NoRedInk

NoRedInk offers robust resources to help Texas teachers prepare students for state testing.

On this page:

• Evaluate which skills students need to practice most
• Discover activities by state standard
• Support students with STAAR Revising and Editing items
• Support students on the STAAR essay
• Support students with STAAR short-response writing

Evaluate which skills students need to practice most

On the Planning Diagnostics page, you’ll find pre-made planning diagnostics aligned to your state’s standards for each grade, as well as to the ACT and SAT.

Your diagnostic results will help you identify which language skills students need to practice most and assign work to reinforce those skills.

From your diagnostic results page, we recommend starting a unit on a given skill and tracking students’ progress through a short diagnostic, practice, and growth quiz. (Check out our Example Unit Plan for one way you could plan units based on the results of a Planning Diagnostic.)

Discover activities by state standard

If you already know which specific standards your students need to work on, browse activities on our Standards & Tests alignment page.

Support students with STAAR Revising and Editing items

Visit our Texas STAAR alignment page to browse NoRedInk pathways that align to the Assessed Curriculum on the Revising and Editing passages. Readiness Standards are weighted more heavily on the test than Supporting Standards.

Support students on the STAAR essay

On our Texas STAAR alignment pages for grades 5 through English II, you can choose “Extended Constructed Response” to browse essay assignments.

In these assignments, students will write on real released STAAR prompts.

Each essay assignment has two versions, which you’ll find under the headings Scaffolded Practice Essay and Authentic Practice Essay.

• Scaffolded Practice Essay: These versions use Guided Essay assignments to provide just-in-time tips and examples as students write practice essays. If students are just starting to prepare for test essay-writing, we recommend starting with one of these. Learn more about Guided Essays.
• Authentic Practice Essay: These versions use our Quick Write assignments, which require students to write with no additional support, just like they will on the real test. Try assigning these when you feel your students are ready to write on their own.

Check out our STAAR Extended Constructed Response Resource, in which you’ll find each rubric criteria paired with a corresponding NoRedInk Module, which includes pre-teaching, practice, and writing resources!

Support students with STAAR short-response writing

On our Texas STAAR alignment pages for grade 5 through English II, you can choose Short Constructed Response to browse short-response prompts. In these assignments, students will write on real released STAAR prompts.

Check out our Short Constructed Response Resource, which will direct you toward additional aligned Quick Writes prompts!