Maeghan Gibson is fed up with the state's standardized test. Focus on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills is encroaching on classroom learning, Gibson said. Instead of having high-level discussions, the Haltom High School junior honors student said she spends too much time taking practice tests and filling out work sheets.
So she and a few friends waged a silent protest Monday morning outside the school by handing out pre-sold green T-shirts with slogans including "Walking standardized test score," "I am not in the equation of my education" and "Total Annihilation of Knowledge and Skills."
I want one of those "Walking standardized test score" shirts. And, frankly, students should be free to wear them - even during test time.
The students say their protest was not aimed at Haltom High School, teachers or the Birdville district, but rather at state and national policies that require the standardized test.
"It's turned into a real 'Grab a work sheet, go sit down and you have to know this or you will fail' kind of thing. That's not good for long-term learning, in my opinion," junior Chase Robinson said. "We want our teachers to advance our knowledge, not a test."
And that's commendable. But long-term learning doesn't often happen in the absence of basic skills, which is what these types of tests are intended to measure. It's not surprising that some of the more bored students are fed up with all the tests, but it would be pretty tough to, as one student suggests, create a test that measures only whether a student improves, and not whether they fail.
Posted by kswygert at February 22, 2005 09:02 PM