Jumping the gun
Boy, the students in Texas haven't even started filling in the bubbles yet, and already educators are complaining that TAKS might be too difficult. The new test is supposed to be more challenging than the TAAS, but "complaints from the Dallas school district" are prompting the Texas School Alliance to look into changing the tests. I say, wait and see what happens.
However, if you're of a mind to complain about the tests - or defend them - there is a grassroots effort to appear on the lawn of the Capitol building at 3 pm this Saturday to show opposition to standardized testing
Saturday's rally also is aimed at focusing attention to two pieces of new legislation filed by state Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Rosenberg. The bills propose using multiple criteria to determine whether students can advance to fourth, sixth and ninth grades and can graduate from high school. A similar measure by Olivo, making grade retention contingent on grades and teacher evaluations in addition to the test, never got out of the Senate Education Committee in the 2001 legislative session. "We need to give the decision-making power back to the teachers, instead of the state or the corporations that are making these tests," said Robert Jones, Olivo's spokesman.
One tiny complaint - the "corporations making these tests" don't hold the power, trust me. The corporations are not blithely setting standards and then imposing them on little Texans. The standards would be set by the state, and the passing scores would also be set by the state. I agree with using more than one criteria for grade advancement, though I'd like to hear more about what this bill proposes to use.