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Why is the issue of standardized testing so controversial
Standardized testing impact on schools
Standardized testing - pros and cons
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Dallas ISD Needs A New System of Governance
In the 1990’s, I grew up taking the TAAS test or Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. I did not know why we had to take them but everyone had to and teachers tried to prepare us as much as they can. Then in the 2003, the state decided to change it to TAKS test or Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. I knew that I had passed, but as a student we do not question why we have to take these tests. We are only told that they are important to our education and graduating to the next grade or from high school. A few years afterwards they had switched to a new standardized test form called STAAR which stands for State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. It seems that a last few tests were not accurate in monitoring students’ progress and controversy surrounding incorrectly scored questions. The STAAR test which has been supported in legislative passage will now be the current standard method of assessing students and districts. The focus shifting mainly on standardized testing has left Dallas Independent School District with less than stellar performance compared to other districts.
Every year students in each grade level are required to take standardized testing to determine their level of competency in the course. The schools use it as a tool for passing students to the next grade level and ensuring they have been taught adequately. The Texas Education Agency or TEA supplies and monitors these tests given to students each year. According to the results received this past year, in 2013, 35 schools out of 456 campuses in Texas performed poorly on the STAAR test. The 35 campuses belongs to Dallas Independent School District which is 8% of the total and more than half of Houston’s sc...
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...e Flexibility Supporters Seek, TEA Says." Dallas News. N.p., 12 Mar. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. .
Stutz, Terrence. "35 Dallas ISD Schools Make State’s Annual List of Subpar Campuses." Dallas News. N.p., 10 Jan. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. .
"Maximum Class Size Exceptions." Texas Education Agency. N.p., 17 Dec. 2013. Web. 27 May 2014. .
Michels, Patrick. "Testing the Limits: a Texas Mother’s Radical Revolt Against Standardized Tests." Texas Observer. N.p., 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. .
"Texas Politics - Texas Political Culture." Welcome to Texas Politics. University of Texas at Austin, 2011. Web. 15 Mar. 2011. .
The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, otherwise known as the TAKS, is a standardized test used throughout the state of Texas to determine whether or not a student is prepared for the next grade level. The TAKS test was implemented in 2003 to replace the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills in concurrence with the “No Child Left Behind Act”. The new test added science and social studies portions to the already existing sections of math, reading, and English. The purpose of this was to obtain more information on where students are academically. However, since its inception, the test has been criticized for numerous reasons. The TAKS test has become ineffective in several capacities and has been used to determine teacher bonuses and assessment of how well a teacher is communicating, evaluations that it was not originally intended to decide. When taking into account all of these points of view, I have come to the conclusion that the TAKS test should no longer be used in its present function.
Miltich, Matthew. "Standardized Testing and Assessment Do Not Improve Education." Education: Opposing Viewpoints. New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 151-54. Print.
Tannahill, Neal. "The People, Economy, and Political Culture of Texas." Texas Government: Policy and Politics. Pearson Education, Inc, 2013. 18-20. Print.
Standardized testing in Texas public schools has parents and teachers furious. It is an argument of Texas Legislature versus those who oppose. Student will take about 17 of these tests before entering high school (Smith A17A). Texas schools are currently conflicted with taking the STAAR tests as it brings upon many arguments. The disadvantages seem to rule out the few advantages test makers tried to pass. Rather than helping students see where they stand, it makes students feel as if they do not stand a chance.
According to the Texas Education Agency, Nimitz has been deemed as a school that requires improvement. Under section 39.107 of the Texas Education Code, if a school has been identified as unacceptable for two years, the commissioners can order the reconstruction of the campus. In the past year, Nimitz missed one of the four indexes required to satisfy the No Child Left Behind Act. The school did not show the progress from 2012 to 2013 it required to pass Index 2, the yearly progress. Test scores indicated that the weighted progress of the STAAR, 15 points, did not fulfill the goal of 17 points. The yearly progress was affected greatly by only ten students, as stated by the principal, Rocci Malone. If Nimitz fails to meet the standard for yearly academic progress a second year, it will be reconstituted. However, the process of reconstitution is lengthy and complex; the school would have to find new educators and motivate them to work in an underperforming school. Reconstitution is too extreme of a solution to solve a minor problem. With Reconstitution, Nimitz
Texas is considered a colossal state with a great potential. Students from grades K-12 even through college, under all conditions, suffer greatly on school necessities like supplies, college loans, or possibly even transportation ways. Students up in northern states have it easy on how their parents can support their needs because the fact that the economy is so much better than down in the south.
Evans, Donia. "The Case Against Standardized Tests." The Meridian Star. 24 Nov. 2013. The Meridian Star. 01 Dec. 2013 .
Standardized testing scores proficiencies in most generally accepted curricular areas. The margin of error is too great to call this method effective. “High test scores are generally related to things other than the actual quality of education students are receiving” (Kohn 7). “Only recently have test scores been published in the news-paper and used as the primary criteria for judging children, teachers, and schools.”(2) Standardized testing is a great travesty imposed upon the American Public School system.
Sacks, Peter. "The Toll Standardized Tests Take." National Education Association. 2000. Web. 2 July 2015.
The admission requirements for The University of Texas at Austin are competitive and academically demanding. In fact, only about 40% of applicants are accepted each year (Naviance) . This number shows that students have to show academic excellence for acceptance into UT. Although the University of Texas states on their Freshmen admissions page, “there is no required GPA to be admitted”; the student's test scores and grades suggest otherwise. Amongst those admitted, the average SAT score is a 1350 with the average ACT score of a 29 (Prep Scholar).
Standardized testing in the United States is not always a common practice. In the Mid-1800s, Horace Mann, an education reformist, developed a test to administer to a group of students. Its purpose was to determine how students were performing at their current level and whether they were capable of proceeding to a higher level of education, although the student’s success on the test had no negative repercussions. These tests were a necessity at that time because the idea of public education was still being molded and these tests were the only means by which student progress could be measured. Within 35 years of the first recorded examination in 1845, testing became the factor which determined whether students were able to be promoted to the next grade.
2013 Campus Accountability Report. (August 8, 2013). Texas Education Agency 2013 Accountability Summary South County Middle School. Retrieved November 14, 2013. http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/
When it comes to test taking, some students do not know how to remain calm. Many times when students fail a test it was not because they did not understand the material on the test, it is because students do not contain good test taking skills. Taking a test can be very nerve wrecking and uncomfortable. A student from Paris (texas) High School said, "some people get testaphobia, I passed my math classes with flying colors, but I get to that TAAS test and my mind's like a blank, I have no idea why." (Kunen 62). TExas is one of the 22 states that requires a high school exit exam like the TAAS test.