Understanding TEFA Accountability/Assessment Requirements: A Complete Guide to Approved Testing Options
- Accessible Education
- 7 days ago
- 9 min read
The Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program provides families with educational choice while maintaining accountability through annual testing requirements. If you're participating in TEFA or considering the program, understanding the assessment requirements and your testing options is essential for compliance and student success.
Assessment Requirements for TEFA Participants
Who Must Test?
Participating private schools must annually administer an approved assessment to TEFA students enrolled in grades 3 through 12. This testing requirement ensures students are making academic progress while giving families the flexibility to choose from a wide range of approved assessments.
Reporting Responsibilities
Schools are responsible for administering the assessment and providing results to parents. Parents hold the ultimate responsibility for ensuring test results are shared with Odyssey annually. With parental authorization, schools may also provide results directly to Odyssey.
Eligible Expenses
Academic assessment-related costs are considered eligible educational expenses under the TEFA program, meaning families can use their TEFA funds to cover testing fees.
Approved Assessments for TEFA
According to Odyssey, the CEAO tasked with managing the TEFA program, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has approved a comprehensive list of assessments that fall into three main categories: general assessments, college and career readiness tests, and specialized assessments for students with special needs.
General Achievement Assessments
Grade Levels: 3–8 and specific high school courses
STAAR is Texas's standardized academic achievement test, mandated by federal and state law for all students in Texas public schools. This online assessment measures learning and application of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) in mathematics, reading language arts, science, and social studies. STAAR helps gauge how well schools and teachers prepare students academically, with Spanish versions available for students in Grades 3–5.
Grade Levels: K–8
TerraNova NEXT represents the newest generation of standardized, norm-referenced assessments, while TerraNova 3 Complete Battery Online is the web-based version of its predecessor (Grades 3–8). Both versions assess reading, math, language, science, and social studies, providing norm-referenced, criterion-referenced, and proficiency level data. TerraNova NEXT features 100% autoscored items and is available in both online and paper formats. All TerraNova versions link to a common growth scale for monitoring progress over time, with immediate results available via DRC INSIGHT Interactive Reporting.
Grade Levels: K–12
This adaptive digital assessment is highly rated by the National Center on Intensive Intervention for academic screening and progress monitoring. Available in both English and Spanish, i-Ready delivers accurate, actionable insights in literacy and mathematics. The assessment covers number and operations, algebra and algebraic thinking, geometry, measurement and data, as well as phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension. i-Ready provides deep understanding of essential skills, predicts performance on state assessments, and offers growth goals including Typical Growth and Stretch Growth, along with connected teacher-led instructional resources.
Grade Levels: K–12
MAP Growth is a trusted computer-adaptive assessment that serves as a universal screener and measures academic growth and achievement. Covering mathematics, reading, language arts, and science, MAP Growth uses the grade-level independent RIT scale to accurately measure growth over time. The assessment provides easy-to-understand reports at the student, class, school, and district levels and is widely used to screen students, place them precisely into programs, drive instruction, and predict performance on state tests, ACT, or SAT. Available in both English and Spanish.
Grade Levels: K–12
The Stanford 10 is a long-standing, valid and reliable multiple-choice assessment that measures academic achievement toward state and national standards. This norm-referenced assessment covers language, reading, math, science, and social science domains, available in both print and digital formats. Clear reports show academic strengths and skills needing support, and include home-based activities for parents to support learning at home.
Grade Levels: K–12
The Iowa Assessments are described as the only major achievement assessment allowing for item-level analysis of student results, helping educators understand and correct skills gaps. This trusted assessment tracks student achievement at the individual skill level and drives student growth using a research-backed vertical scale from kindergarten through high school. Available on paper or online, the Iowa Assessments can be combined with CogAT to help identify gaps between students' current skills and their readiness to learn.
Grade Levels: Pre-K–12
Star Assessments is a comprehensive suite including computer-adaptive assessments and curriculum-based measures designed to support learning journeys and accelerate reading and math growth. The suite includes Star Reading (K–12), Star Math (K–12), Star Early Literacy (Pre-K–3), and curriculum-based measures like Star CBM and Star CBM Lectura for Spanish literacy development. Highly rated by the National Center on Intensive Intervention and available in English and Spanish, Star Assessments provide essential insights for setting research-based goals, monitoring progress, tracking standards mastery, and predicting performance on state summative tests. Star data links to the ACT and SAT, allowing for college expectation tracking as early as sixth grade.
Grade Levels: 1–11
The CTP is a summative, norm-referenced achievement assessment widely used by independent schools globally, backed by over 95 years of experience. It covers reading, listening, vocabulary, writing, mathematics, and science. Starting in Grade 3, verbal and quantitative reasoning subtests are included, providing greater insight by assessing attained knowledge alongside reasoning ability. Available in both paper and online formats, CTP results are reported quickly via the interactive ERB 360 Access platform. Educators can select specific subtests including Word Analysis (Grades 1-2), Auditory Comprehension (Grades 1-3), Writing Mechanics (Grades 2-11), and Science (online only, Grades 3-9).
Grade Levels: 3–8
These interim assessments provide quick, regular assessment touchpoints throughout the school year, giving educators real-time data. Covering reading comprehension and mathematics, Milestones are administered online with subtests taking only 40 minutes to complete. Scores are returned quickly within 24-48 hours. They can be used as a complement to the CTP (administered twice a year) or as a standalone assessment (up to three times a year), with results accessed through ERB 360 Access.
College and Career Readiness Assessments
Purpose:Â College readiness determination
Now known as TSIA2, this assessment is mandated by the Texas State Legislature to guide public institutions of higher education in determining if students are ready for entry-level college coursework. Covering English Language Arts, Reading, and Mathematics, students must take the TSIA before college enrollment unless they meet exemption benchmarks based on scores from assessments like the SAT, ACT, or specific STAAR EOCs. Students who do not meet benchmarks are required to receive developmental education academic support.
Grade Levels: Typically 11–12
The SAT is the primary college admissions test and is now fully digital. Students must use the Bluebook testing application, which supports testing on various devices, including Mac, Windows, iPads, and Chromebooks. Practice materials are available on Bluebook and through Official SAT Prep on Khan Academy.
Grade Levels: Typically 10–11
This digital test features content very similar to the SAT, covering reading and writing and math sections. The test is shorter than the previous paper version and offers more time per question with a built-in calculator. Offered during October testing windows, successfully taking the PSAT/NMSQT can qualify students for the National Merit Scholarship Program and other scholarships.
Grade Levels: Typically 11–12
The ACT is a college entrance exam featuring multiple-choice tests in English, mathematics, reading, and science. The writing test and science test are optional and not included in the Composite score. The ACT measures skills typically acquired up to the beginning of grade 12 and is designed to be flexible, currently evolving to be less time-consuming and offer more student choice.
Grade Levels: 8–10
This suite of assessments (PreACT 8/9, PreACT, PreACT 9 Secure, PreACT Secure) serves as an early indicator of college and career readiness, offering students an early experience with ACT test items. Anchored on the ACT College and Career Readiness Standards, PreACT assessments provide a predicted ACT test score and include a STEM score. These exams help inform high school course selection and planning, with administration formats varying between paper-pencil and online testing options.
Grade Levels: 3–12
CLT offers academic assessments that emphasize timeless academic skills and promote critical and logical thinking. The CLT suite includes the CLT (Grades 11-12) as a college entrance exam comparable to the SAT and ACT, CLT10 (Grades 9-10) as a college preparatory exam comparable to the PSAT, and CLT3-8 (Grades 3-8) as diagnostic and summative exams to track growth. CLT exams assess both achievement and aptitude, with a unique feature of including reading passages from classic and historical texts. CLT exams are flexible, being offered frequently, and can be taken at home or in school.
Approved Assessments for Students with Special Needs
For students with special needs, TEFA approves several specialized assessments designed to accommodate diverse learning profiles and provide accurate measures of achievement.
Grade Levels: 3–12
This alternate assessment is based on alternate academic achievement standards for eligible students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in Texas. Covering mathematics, reading language arts, science, and social studies, STAAR Alternate 2 is a standardized, individually administered paper assessment. Eligibility is determined by a student's Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) committee. Students determined to have "No Authentic Academic Response" or a "Medical Exception" are not required to participate.
Age Range:Â Children, adolescents, and young adults
The KTEA-3 is an individually administered, norm-referenced assessment providing a broad measure of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and math skills. It features two parallel forms, two measures of rapid automatized naming, story-based written expression measurement, and norm-referenced error analysis.
Focus:Â Early childhood and special education
BRIGANCE is a suite of assessment tools for early childhood and special education professionals, focusing on identifying what students do know and can do through in-depth skill sequences. Key products include the BRIGANCE Criterion-Referenced Inventory of Early Development 4 (IED 4), the IED III, and BRIGANCE Early Childhood Screens III. Available in English and Spanish, BRIGANCE tools are designed to support diverse learners, track progress, and help educators determine instructional next steps.
Purpose:Â Comprehensive assessment across multiple domains
The WJ V is a comprehensive assessment system that measures current performance and predicts future success across academic achievement, cognitive ability, and language skills. It covers more domains than previous versions, offering 17 new tests and 9 new clusters, including a targeted dyslexia assessment test set. The assessment uses research-driven, post-pandemic norms to ensure accurate evaluations and fairer peer comparisons. As a digital-first platform designed for efficiency, WJ V offers streamlined testing, automated scoring, and significant time savings with up to 20% faster administration.
Age Range:Â Kindergarten through high school (up to age 22)
The PIAT is a prominent, individually administered, norm-referenced achievement test used to evaluate the academic achievement of children and adolescents. It measures widely expected educational outcomes rather than curriculum-specific content, covering general information, reading recognition, reading comprehension, mathematics, spelling, and written expression. Typically administered by a trained professional in a quiet setting, the test takes one to two hours to complete. The PIAT is used to identify scholastic achievement, target instruction, and verify the academic level of homeschooled children in some states. A limitation is its accessibility, as it is limited primarily to English and Spanish speakers.
Purpose:Â Individual achievement assessment
An individually administered achievement test designed to assess academic achievement across multiple domains.
Choosing the Right Assessment
With so many approved options, TEFA families and participating private schools have the flexibility to choose assessments that best fit their students' educational path, learning style, and future goals. Consider these factors when selecting an assessment:
Educational setting:Â Some assessments are more commonly used in certain educational environments
College plans:Â If college is on the horizon, assessments like the SAT, ACT, or CLT serve dual purposes
Special needs:Â Students with disabilities may benefit from specialized assessments designed for their learning profiles
Progress monitoring:Â Some assessments provide more frequent testing opportunities for ongoing progress tracking
Language:Â Several assessments are available in Spanish for bilingual students
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts may approve and add additional testing options in the future, so families should stay informed about newly approved assessments that might better serve their needs.
Final Thoughts
The TEFA program's assessment requirements balance accountability with flexibility, ensuring students make academic progress while giving families meaningful choice in how that progress is measured. Whether you're just starting with TEFA or looking to change your assessment approach, understanding these options empowers you to make the best decision for your students' educational journey.
Remember, assessment-related costs are eligible expenses under TEFA, so you can use your education freedom account to cover testing fees. Work with your private school and keep open communication with Odyssey to ensure all reporting requirements are met on time.
Need Expert Support for TEFA Assessment Requirements for Schools and Families?
Whether you’re a private school selecting approved assessments or a parent evaluating how schools measure and report student progress, TEFA compliance requires clarity and careful planning. Accessible Education helps schools implement compliant assessment systems and support families in understanding how each school approaches TEFA testing and reporting.
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