Testing Texas’s commitment to education

On Monday, a Texas House committee gave preliminary approval to a proposal which would, if ratified, scrap the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills in secondary schools, leaving academic testing only for the elementary schools.

This move comes after decades of gradual recognition that a testing program which initially had been intended to help Texas schools has in fact ended up hindering the education process itself. Students with passing and in some cases excellent grades have been prohibited from receiving high school diplomas because they had not received high enough test scores on this all-or-nothing exam.

Bewildered by these headlines, I have been caught in the extremely embarrassing position of attempting to explain to my friends from other states that Texas actually prevents its ‘good students’ from graduating from high school — just because of those test scores.

Such a discrepancy is not something which the Lone Star State should continue going on record as being known for.

Because standardized tests by design do not recognize students with different learning styles, these tests cannot provide accurate assessments. Standardized tests only tell who has received the highest test scores on a particular test.

While they're not the smartest instruments for judging educational quality, these test programs initially provided an alluring draw to genuinely concerned public officials and communities — including some members within our own party — who wanted to quickly know if students were learning their classroom material. But it was false security, as the promised results of these tests in benefiting our educational system failed to materialize.

An alternate replacement proposal by State Senate Education Chair Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) should remind us that the battle against high-stakes testing is not yet won. Before being amended in committee, this bill suggested that passage of cumulative end-of-course exams would be required to graduate.

Appearing to have learned little from TAKS fiascos, this proposal implied that completed coursework should matter very little. In its original form, it would have kept Texas classrooms as unimaginable pressure cookers and retained teachers as glorified proctors. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that an amended version will not require the student passage of cumulative exams, but the exams themselves would still be conducted.

Excuse me if I am a little skeptical about the ramifications of any program which would still require cumulative academic assessment. High-stakes cumulative exams did not work in the past and they would not work now, irrespective of whatever new name gets attached.

I feel fortunate having graduated high school when I did. We had standardized testing (replete with hidden hurdles for students with disabilities), but field reports from friends now working in Texas public schools reiterate that Texas now has need to reconsider this educational reform.

The clock is ticking away; our elected officials must get a good night’s sleep so they can create a Texas education system which is no longer hindered by the false promises and slick packaging peddled by standardized testing corporations.