What the heck is TAKS Testing? (public school, colleges, salary)

[ladarron]

TAKS stand for the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills

[artsyguy]

It's really an invalid test.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

When your kids were in elementary (my son is in second grade) did they go to school for seven hours a day with only ONE recess? Did they do TAKS worksheets everyday? Did they only get PE once a week? Were they sending your kid home with an hour of MEANINGLESS homework in the first grade? Because if not, times have changed.

I think it is fine to give kids standardized tests to see if they know what they should, but the problem is with how high the stakes have become. The test is no longer a tool or a means to an end, it is treated like an end in itself. Looking at the single digit addition my son was being drilled on daily in the second grade was the last straw. Perhaps we were spoiled at our old school (out of state), but the public school here was kind of a joke.

I agree with Monica in that just because your kids tell you that they cannot understand how anyone can fail the test doesn't mean they have a legitimate appraisal of its merit. I also agree that because they are teaching to the test, many students are not being adequately prepared with the necessary critical thinking and other skills necessary for higher ed.

It isn't my place to tell you how to evaluate your child's education.

Our experience is that the concentration on the test was short lived - in the weeks leading up to the test. It is also more noticable in elementary school than in later grades. If teaching to the test means being able to solve the problems in the test - which read like reasonable problems to me - then I am OK with it.

As a parent - I told my kids that they shouldn't worry and they would do fine. Whether they are commended or not wasn't that important to me.

As for Monica, if she is in college as she says, then she miraculously passed English in high school. She can't write a paragraph as well as 7th graders should be able to. Based only on what I see in her writing - she should not have been allowed to advance at some point in her education until she could pass a reasonable exit exam.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

It's really an invalid test.

What do you know about this topic? I think nothing.

[woodinvilleguy]

The problem that I have with the tests is that the schools restrict all instruction to the Taks test. There is more to education that taking the Taks test. I have a friend that used to come in and provide science instruction to his wifes class and the principle shut that done because she was supposed to "Teach to the test" in his words.

My daughter is in the honors programs in school and both years we have been here the teachers and principals tell them that they are expected to get exemplary scores on it. That is just stupid. They add a ton of pressure to the kids that are most likely to pass the test with flying colors. Those kids aren't the ones that they should be worrying about.

[artsyguy]

There are a lot of problems with standardized tests. And teachers should teach to the subject.

Originally Posted by woodinvilleguy

The problem that I have with the tests is that the schools restrict all instruction to the Taks test. There is more to education that taking the Taks test. I have a friend that used to come in and provide science instruction to his wifes class and the principle shut that done because she was supposed to "Teach to the test" in his words.

My daughter is in the honors programs in school and both years we have been here the teachers and principals tell them that they are expected to get exemplary scores on it. That is just stupid. They add a ton of pressure to the kids that are most likely to pass the test with flying colors. Those kids aren't the ones that they should be worrying about.

[LeoZ]

Q: What the heck is TAKS testing?

A: A joke.

[Monica_Pointless]

again with the writing goodness hoffdano come up with new material sheesh you sound like a broken record "fix your writing and your writing is terrible and one long sentence" just leave it be; damn it if my grammar is bad i am sorry for dissapointing you ok so if its that emberassing then why dont you show me how to 'perfect' my grammar.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Monica_Pointless

again with the writing goodness hoffdano come up with new material sheesh you sound like a broken record "fix your writing and your writing is terrible and one long sentence" just leave it be; damn it if my grammar is bad i am sorry for dissapointing you ok so if its that emberassing then why dont you show me how to 'perfect' my grammar.

How about:

"Hoffdano, you sound like a broken record. You keep saying my writing is terrible: everything is one long sentence. Damn it if my grammar is poor! I am sorry for disappointing you. If it is that embarrassing please show me how to improve it."

Monica - I am not disappointed in you nor embarrassed. I am not your parents, your teacher, nor your boss. I just want you to recognize that how you write (and communicate) does matter. If you wanted a job that required you to professionally communicate with important clients - could you do that? Maybe you wouldn't look for a job like that. But maybe the job you have someday changes or your opportunity to advance is limited because you can't communicate well. I suggest that if you are in college today - you take writing classes and learn. You can do it.

[AutumnFOG]

Originally Posted by alan777

So when parents are complain about the school "teaching to the test" is literally means just that, that the school teaches to have kids pass the test.

I do take every review with a ten ton grain of salt of course. I just want my daughter to to a good school.

Some of the schools I am looking at that have great scores are Deer Creek Elementary, Forest Trail Elementary, Cypress Elementary, Lake Pointe Elementary, Bridge Point Elementary, Barton Creek Elementary, River Place Elementary, Steiner Ranch Elementary, Laura Welch Bush Elementary, Canyon Creek Elementary, Valley View Elementary and, Lakeway Elementary School. Does anyone have kids that go to these schools?

What I am trying to figure out is if the testing is a good measurement/metric to determine if a school is good or not.

One of the major problems with standardized testing is a that it is a race to the bottom. Think about it. When you tell states and local districts that they will be rewarded based on the results of a test, and then those same states and local districts control the content of the tests, two things will happen:

First, the education system is going to make the tests easier.

Second, the students are only going to be taught to the test.

What you then end up having is tons of kids graduating high school at a 6th or 7th grade reading level, or with no math or science skills, because they were taught specifically to an already particularly easy test. Furthermore, the kids who weren't going to pass anyway -- many of them still don't, and now they're left without the toolset necessary to go into the working world or, at least, community college.

But this isn't just a Texas problem. Every state has this issue with standardized testing, and its a issue that has been criticized by both major political parties. The areas in which this hasn't been a big deal are really those areas where there is profound influence for private schooling entities, or, where the performance was so bad in the past that this has actually not showed up as an issue.

I know, for instance, of a student in NY whose district had a 17% passing rate on the standardized math test, so the district simply convinced the state to let the district re-write the test and give it again.

These things, unfortunately, happen everywhere and all of the time.