Texas huh... sounds more like Calif.So much for standards. Wonder how the children of the “undocumented workers” scored?
They also instituted a new testing program, if you read the full article. I think the new system makes a heck of a lot more sense.
The “dumbing down” of America continues. Pretty soon they will all be dumb enough to think that Socialism works.
My mother teaches in the North Harris Montgomery Community College District and complains all the time about the totally unprepared students entering. It is one thing when students get to a normal 4-year university to find that they are unprepared, but to go to a community college and find the same... not good.
But she has also said for years that the test (TAKS) was horrible and that it was not a good indicator of actual learning.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
The new system is better.
Having one test is a much worse system than having individual tests for all core subjects.
Still, I don’t think a test really is required at all....if they pass the class, they should graduate.
The percentage of students at each grade level who passed all subject-area tests*:
Third grade: 93%
Fourth grade: 75%
Fifth grade: 89%
Sixth grade: 77%
Seventh grade: 70%
Eighth grade: 60%
Ninth grade: 59%
10th grade: 50%
11th grade: 69%
A record 40,182 high school seniors in Texas failed some portion of the TAKS graduation exam.
The percentage that failed one or more subject areas:
16% overall
28% of black students
24% of Hispanic students
8% of white students
7% of Asian-American students
26% of economically disadvantaged students
Obviously we're not spending enough money.
WA state is doing the same thing. They are revising and delaying the WASL tests.
But hey this just proves we need to spend more money on edukation./s
The End of Course tests were already on the schedule - I think in 2012.
Would this have an impact of cutting federal funds? If so, forget it - won't happen.
Texas huh... sounds more like Calif.We have a similar test in Arizona where Students take it sophomore year and have 2-3 chances every year to pass. I remember about 100 seniors still had not passed it, i also remember that most of the questions where simple. An example would be “On a 6-sided cube numbered 1 - 6 what are the odds of rolling a 3 or less� I believe i missed 2 questions, sadly.
What you need to know is why this started in the first place. Liberalism. In the 1980’s The Liberal way of not testing fad and gone from California through Texas. Students were showing declining SAT test and failing the basics in college. Yet they all had passed High School. The invention of OBE Outcome Based Education, the use of Portfolios instead of grades, the idea that rote memorization of facts and figures was a waste of brain space. The idea of critical thinking instead of learning math and science. The use of calculators instead of learning math facts. Site reading instead of phonics. The reaction of conservative parents was the formation of the Christian Coalitions and the running of conservatives in the Houston area for school boards. They were successful and decided they had to pass a state law requiring a base level of knowledge of basic skills standardized testing of Texas students to make sure the at least had a rudimentary basic level of knowledge The Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS), a criterion-referenced test, was mandated by the Texas legislature in 1984 to be instituted beginning with the school year 1985-86. This has been modified into to the current testing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Assessment_of_Academic_Skills
At the same time Home schooling took off http://www.thsc.org/about_us/hs_history_lesson.asp