What the heck is TAKS Testing? (Austin, Portland: low income, home, neighborhood)

[alan777]

I am getting closer to moving from Portland to Austin in July. I am looking up schools on a web site called Great Schools. When reading reviews from parents of schools in North and North West Austin around the Lake Travis area lots of people are bitching about schools teaching to the TAKS Testing.

What does this mean? Is it really that bad? Some of the schools are rated very high by the web site but parents complain about the TAKS Testing and give the school a low rating. What is the deal?

[austin-steve]

They are really easy standardized tests that some kids can't pass. If a kid can't pass eventually, he doesn't graduate. I think also kids can be held back a grade, but I don't know for sure if that happens or not.

My 10th grade daughter is taking the tests this week and she asked me, sincerely, "are there really some kids who can't pass these tests"?

Judge for yourself the level of difficulty:
Texas Education Agency - Released TAKS Tests

Steve

[centralaustinite]

Oh boy! Don't know whether to laugh or cry. TAKS testing is the high-stakes, mandatory annual tests that all public schools are subject to. Schools are ranked by the state according to how well every ethnic group (anglo, african america, hispanic) does on the test as well as how well students who are "low income" do on the test. I think that "english language learners is a category. Schools as a whole are then ranked as unacceptable, acceptable, recognized, or exemplary based on how well each subgroup does on the test.

The idea is to make sure that no child is left behind -- that is, so a school can't mask the poor performance of poor or minority students behind the great performance of other students.

Some schools and even districts have very few poor or non-anglo students, these schools (Eanes is an example in Austin) tend to get very high scores but some parents may complain that too much time is taken on test-prep, teaching to the test, etc. More diverse districts, AISD would be a large, diverse district, can struggle with schools that may have just one or two subgroups (like low-income fifth graders) fail just one part of the test (like science) and then have the whole school rated unacceptable. I have done workshops in "unacceptable" schools that were clearly solid schools with good teachers, involved parents, and thoughtful principals but who deal with poor students who frequently change schools (every year or during each year). You can have amazing teaching and student learning happening without it improving the TAKS results.

It sounds like what you are encountering are solid, wealthy schools who have parents that wish that testing did not shape the curriculum and soul of the school the way that it does. Take some of that with a grain of salt. There are schools and districts that work hard to avoid this but it can be hard to discern from a distance.

Some choose private schools to avoid the testing and the way it can impact the curriculum. That is one option but should probably be a whole 'nother thread.

The state lege is in session and may modify some of the more rigid criteria and consequences for schools so "teaching to the test" may lessen in the future.

[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.

[centralaustinite]

Honestly those are all solid schools (high income families too). They will all test very high. I would not think that TAKS would be a good metric for determining meaningful differences between the schools.

[alan777]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Honestly those are all solid schools (high income families too). They will all test very high. I would not think that TAKS would be a good metric for determining meaningful differences between the schools.

If the testing is not a good metric then I guess the Parental Reviews are more valid(I hope).

[austin-steve]

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.

I think good arguments can be made that the scoring is not the end all determinant. A really good school can have its merits masked by mediocre rankings, due only to a small subset of students performing poorly on the taks tests. There really isn't a large difference in the scores required to be Exemplary versus Recognized.

That said, while a good school can fly under the radar due to poor testing results, a school that scores well across the board is probably going to deliver a fairly predictable solid education to your child. Most people do use the scoring as the main determining factor in selecting where they want their kids to attend school, and they don't spend time further investigating schools with average scores. This is what I observe from my vantage point.

Steve

[austinaggie]

My kids go to Forest Trail and it is an excellent, well rounded school. The principal is great and there is a lot of parental involvement. We live in Lost Creek and I would estimate that about 75% of the kids at the school live in our neighborhood. The others live in the Woods of Westlake and some portions of Rob Roy. If you are looking to buy in Lost Creek or the Woods of Westlake expect to spend at least $400,000 for a mid 1980's home that may or may not have been updated. Rob Roy will cost you much more.

Good luck,

Terri

[woodinvilleguy]

My kids go to a "recognized" school and it is great. They score well and are in PACE and Quest. I would put our school up with any of the schools you mentioned. I am not a big proponent of the tests because the schools put way to much pressure on the kids for the tests rather than just learning. That seems consistent with the impressions of my co-workers as well.

Now if your kid qualifies for Quest, I highly recomend it.

[alan777]

Originally Posted by woodinvilleguy

My kids go to a "recognized" school and it is great. They score well and are in PACE and Quest. I would put our school up with any of the schools you mentioned. I am not a big proponent of the tests because the schools put way to much pressure on the kids for the tests rather than just learning. That seems consistent with the impressions of my co-workers as well.

Now if your kid qualifies for Quest, I highly recommend it.

What school do they go to and in what area?

What is Quest?