It occurred to me that I haven't done an education piece in awhile. As the school year gets going, people are going to be more and more concerned with TAKS scores. TAKS scores seem to be the life blood of our industry. My campus was one student away from being exemplary (the top rating). We had to "settle" for being recognized. Being recognized on the heels of Ike is a huge accomplishment for our campus. Losing nearly three weeks of instruction on top of our challenging demographics (most students are on free or reduced lunch) meant we had to really work to get that done.
Yet, those outside the industry have to really wonder what these scores all mean. It would be easy to assume that students have to get 70 percent of the questions right in order to pass and you have to have a certain percentage of students pass in order to acceptable, recognized, and explemary. It's never that simple and it's one of the many reasons why I never envy the job the head principal has.
The reality is that the standards for students passing the test and the standards for campuses and their ratings changes from year to year. The scoring standards will change based on the difficulty of the test. On most math and science tests, the students have to get closer to 50 percent of the questions right. Last week, the big news item was the fact that the terror ratings for homeland security were altered based on political pressure. While that is awful, that pales in comparison to the political pressure put on those that administer and score the TAKS tests. If you follow the standards closely, you will notice that standards for passing the test go down during election years. Every politician wants to take credit for better tests scores.
So, the increase or decrease in scores may be nothing but an illusion. We came to find out this year that students could fail the test and still count for the campus being recognized or exemplary if they were "epected" to pass the test within two years. So, the end result is that there are more schools that are becoming exemplary, recognized, and acceptable than there were before. When a school closes because of too many consecutive unacceptable ratings it hurts everyone politically. The community is mad that their school is being closed, the state looks bad because they have a school that is failing, and the district really gets it in the teeth because they've "allowed it to happen." So, why not tweak the standards some so everyone can be happy?
The good news is that the TAKS is going away in another couple of years. The bad news is that it will be replaced with something. That something appears to be end of course exams. All standardized testing has its bugaboos and the major one is the tug of war between holding to a firm but attainable standard or whether to adjust the standard if or when students are unable to meet it. Either way, it is yet another example of politicians shying away from a challenge.
Basically, the scaled score is the same from test to test. The state attaches different weight to the questions from one year to the next. The scaled score makes it appear as if there is one standard. In actuality, in some cases the percentage of questions needing to be correct has been as low as 48 percent. In those years, they just attached more weight to certain questions. In other cases, they may throw out questions that nearly everyone got wrong. So, if 2100 is the scaled score, it just means that this is the score necessary to pass. From year to year, the number of correct questions will change to reach that scaled score.
In terms of what you can teach at home I will say this. Get with your kid's teacher and ask what they are teaching in class. They will gladly give you a copy of the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) that correspond with the TAKS test. From there, you can easily fill in the blanks if you wish. For my child, we are simply trying to offer her as many experiences as possible. I think the main difference between kids from affluent areas and poor areas are their educational experiences. It is easier to teach a student about a place if you go there. It's easier to teach them about a concept if you can show them a real life application.
My opinion might be a little out of context of teachers and TAKS...but can't concerned parents 'teach' their kids what they feel they're not getting in a formal academic setting?
Mr. Barzilla,
I'm killing two birds with one stone here:
What exactly do the math TAKS scores mean? e.g. quantile, scaled, etc...
According to George Carlin, it's to work in the widget factory. Uneducated and obedient workers are needed for the REAL owners of the country. They need to be dumbed down. It's nearly a "Brave New World" mentality, complete with Soma and lots of Ritalin.
http://dailybail.com/home/george-carlin-video-the-truth-about-wall-street-and-washingt.html
You are asking the wrong guy. Personally I don't think it means much of anything. It certainly doesn't correspond with work. Colleges are also complaining about lack of skills, so I'm at a loss.
"The TAKS are based on things called TEKS. Essentially they are a list of skills the state has deemed that students should have. The idea behind all of the tests that everyone has mentioned is to make sure all students are being taught a minimal set of skills."
Yes, but minimal to accomplish...what? To be able to reasonably function as an informed and problem-solving member of society? To be a good, obedient, non-analytically-thinking citizen? To work in a widget factory?
Forgive my short response since I am on my phone. The TAKS are based on things called TEKS. Essentially they are a list of skills the state has deemed that students should have. The idea behind all of the tests that everyone has mentioned is to make sure all students are being taught a minimal set of skills. I took the TAAS in school, but my teachers never focused on it because they knew we would pass. As far as the standards are concerned, that is one of the many jobs of the state board of education. They ultimately approve that. Personally, I just don't think the TAKS measures what we need it to.
Sorry, that should have been "stand a chance of....".
I can only claim that I type rapidly. Free-form and all that. ;-)
I worked in public education for nearly twenty years. My principal knew exactly how I felt about the TAKS (TAAS)tests. I said it's a pity that there is so much in the world to learn and these kids won't stand of chance of learning it if it's not on "the test". Because that was all that was/is being taught.
And they wonder why we have a generation of children growing up who can't read/write/spell.
Don't EVEN get me started on that old "whole language" bullshit from a few years ago.
Before the TAAS, it was TEAMS. And IOWAS.
Before it was the TAKS it was the TAAS and it doesn't matter what you call it. Cy-Fair teaches students the TAKS test from the 2nd grade on for the 3rd grade exam. There is so much pressure that my daughter told me before entering the third grade this year that she wanted to skip school because she was afraid of the TAKS test. The kid should be worried about multiplication tables!
I don't know how teachers "do it" these days with ALL the factors maing your job more difficult.
IF there is a way out of the "mess" we are in as a nation (and I'm not talking just economic, I'm talking about EVERYTHING social, political, moral, the designated hitter) then it is through education.
Most every grade I got in HS was based on course exams and the same with most of my College work. What the hell happened to change that. My Grandkids tried to explain the TAKS stuff to me and I never did catch on to what was teh ratioale behind it.
Scott, this is a bit off-topic, and apologies for the ignorant question, but do you know how the goals for the TAKS are set? Or, more to the point, what are the ultimate goals that a Texas high school graduate is supposed to have attained? I know there's a set and public curriculum for each grade level, but the curriculum doesn't give me a good idea how the goals themselves were set; i.e., what role the State of Texas believes education is supposed to play in the lives of its residents and in Texas society more broadly. I'm sure there's some pablummy answer out there on the board of education's website, but I do wonder to what extent goals of that sort play any real role in determining what our students learn.