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Study finds Texas TAKS standard “one of the most lenient in the country”
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Molly Bloom of the Austin American-Statesman reports today that a new study finds Texas’ federal accountability standard for reading and math education “one of the most lenient in the country.” The study, conducted by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank on education, and the Kingsbury Center at the Northeast Evaluation Association in Oregon, is reporting findings similar to other studies that have shown that Texas and its’ state-wide education test, the TAKS, aims low – far below the national standards in reading and math.
In accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, each state was supposed to uphold certain national standards for reading and math, but the study shows that No Child Left Behind gives a “false impression of creating a national accountability system.” Instead, each state reports to the federal government its goals for testing each year, and also sets its own standards for how many students of particular groups – such as racial and ethnic groups, socio-economic groups, and linguistic groups – it needs to count in order for a school to be held accountable for those groups’ test scores. This, in my opinion, is dangerous territory; according to Bloom, Texas uses high numbers to be able to count certain groups out of testing – up to 200, or 10% of the student population. This manipulates which test scores count, and gives an off-balance picture of who is doing well on the TAKS.
Well. Where to begin? First, please read the article, because it goes into more detail about where the facts are coming from, and how the test scores are evaluated.
To say that I, a public school parent and supporter, am disappointed in what seems to be a broken-down horse cart of an education system is an understatement. Whom do we hold accountable for this mess? The article does not discuss who is responsible – yet my mind wanders back to the Texas Board of Education, which has seemed at times to be much more concerned about Bible teachings in the classroom than the incredibly low standards of the TAKS test.
Isn’t this a fancy way of saying that Texas is looking for the easy A? It’s fair to say we are all vying for federal money to come to fix our desperate schools, but is the answer to fudge the standards so our kids look like the superstars? In what way is this helping anyone, especially the students who have to apply to college and brave the world outside of Texas? Have we come to this – a true celebration of mediocrity?
That blue ribbon of “recognized school” hanging outside my son’s kindergarten class doesn’t look so bright and shiny anymore. What service, Board of Ed, is this doing my son? How will these incredibly low national standards – let’s not even get into comparing the standards of other countries – help my son on his way to the future?
