Almost didn't make today's post, but here it is. I was up late at the school tonight at a special TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) tutoring night for History. TAKS is the latest standardized test that Texas school kids must pass in order to graduate. Currently, Texas students must pass an English, Social Studies, Math and Science exam. But that is all about to change.
We are transitioning to EOC's (End of Course exams). Instead of four exams, Texas students will soon have to pass a series of exams throughout each year of high school, totaling 16 exams. The way the scheme is currently proposed, they should not only have to pass each exam with a certain score, but they would also need a total composite score in each subject area. So it might be possible to pass each individual science exam, for example, yet not reach the science composite number needed to graduate. OR, perhaps you barely fail one of them, but perhaps you can score high enough on the others to reach the required composite score.
It is even more confusing for the next couple of years as they phase in the EOC's and phase out the TAKS. We will actually have both types of exams going on, with TAKS required for older students as the younger students come in under EOC's (next year's freshman class is the first who will be required to graduate under the EOC scheme). It has been calculated that with TAKS, EOC's, AP Exams and others, that for the next couple of years there will be over 40 days of standardized testing at the high school level in Texas.
I'll leave you with that. Talk to you tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
What's your position on the efficacy of standardized testing? Do you think they're useful? Do you think they serve the function they're said to serve? And do you or your fellow teachers resent having to 'teach the test?'
Post a Comment