Txbroadcaster
03-02-2007, 01:02 PM
By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
tstutz@dallasnews.com
AUSTIN – The state's 1.25 million high school students would have to pass a series of new end-of-course exams to graduate instead of the current TAKS tests under legislation filed Thursday by the leaders of the House and Senate education committees.
The measures would eliminate the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills graduation test – which has been in use only three years – as well as two other TAKS tests administered in the ninth and 10th grades.
In all, 12 tests would be taken throughout high school – three each in English, math, science and social studies. The legislation also calls for lesser changes to tests for elementary and middle school students.
"We can all agree that the TAKS test has outlived its welcome," said Sen. Florence Shapiro, the Plano Republican who leads the Senate Education Committee.
Also Online
SAT, ACT push is dropped
With the backing of Ms. Shapiro and Rep. Rob Eissler, her counterpart in the House, the bills have strong momentum. Plus, parents and teachers have voiced increasing criticism of the TAKS, saying there is too much emphasis on the exam in schools, and many lawmakers heard the outcry during last year's campaigns.
Under the new plan, students would be required to earn a cumulative passing score of at least 840 points to get a diploma. That is the equivalent of a 70 on each exam – though students could fail some tests and still graduate if they did well enough on others to reach 840.
"This ensures that no Texas student will take a course in name only because we will assess the rigorous content we expect students to learn," Ms. Shapiro said. "End-of-course exams will allow a more in-depth study of a particular subject, as well as provide a more timely assessment of a student's grasp of that subject."
'More rigorous'
The senator also said the new tests represent a "more rigorous" assessment than the TAKS.
Mr. Eissler, R-The Woodlands, said the battery of 12 exams will give students "multiple pathways" to graduation.
"This bill holds students to high standards while not putting all of the focus on one test," he said. "These exams will allow teachers to focus on content and not simply teach to the test."
Last year, more than one in eight high school seniors – a record 31,716 students – were not eligible to get a diploma at graduation because they didn't pass all four parts of the graduation test – English, math, science and social studies – after multiple tries.
The new tests would cost an estimated $35 million to develop and would be phased in with ninth-graders entering high school in the fall of 2009. Students already in high school would still take the TAKS.
Factor into grades
Scores on the end-of-year tests would count 15 percent toward each student's final grade. The new tests would factor into schools accountability ratings, as TAKS results currently are, but Ms. Shapiro said lawmakers were working out details of how to apply them.
Teachers may be receptive to the change, said Aimee Bolender, president of Alliance/AFT, the largest teacher organization in Dallas.
"We've been asking a lot of teachers what they think, and it's been extremely well received," she said. "They view the end-of-course as being relevant to the content actually being taught, as opposed to the TAKS."
Ms. Bolender said the end-of-course exams could help students stay motivated all the way through the school year.
"Now, when students take the TAKS, they think the year's over with," she said. "They go into downtime mode."
Other changes
All students also would have to complete a college readiness diagnostic test in the eighth and 10th grades, which would allow schools to work with students who are deficient in certain subjects.
In the elementary grades, a fifth-grade social studies exam would be added, and the current fifth-grade science test would be moved to the fourth grade. Separate writing exams would be eliminated, and writing skills would instead be covered in the reading assessments for fourth through eighth grades.
The testing legislation does not affect the current requirement that students in third, fifth and eighth grades pass the TAKS to be promoted to the next grade. Currently, students are tested annually with the TAKS in grades three through 11.
Ms. Shapiro said the legislation also would establish new safeguards and criminal penalties to minimize cheating on the exams.
Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, voiced support for the changes.
"This responds to what parents are asking us to do, to make certain we teach children how to think as opposed to how to pass a test," Mr. West said.
Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, said one advantage of end-of-course exams is that students are tested right after completing the course, when the knowledge is fresh in their minds. With the current graduation test in the 11th grade, students are asked questions in subjects they may have taken two years earlier, he noted.
Teacher groups want lawmakers to ensure that any new system "not take on the high-stakes, end-all-be-all that the TAKS test evolved into," said Cindy Chapman, president of the Association of Texas Professional Educators and a high school teacher in Whiteface.
A random survey of teachers paid for by the group this year found that more than three out of four teachers believe the TAKS does not accurately measure a student's academic level and is turning students into test-takers rather than critical thinkers. In addition, more than 60 percent of teachers and parents surveyed said the TAKS has reduced learning to how well a student can take a test.
Texas has used end-of-course tests before, but they were phased out a few years ago in favor of the TAKS program.
Staff writer Joshua Benton in Dallas contributed to this report.
CURRENT SYSTEM
• High school students take the TAKS in grades nine through 11. In ninth grade, it's a reading and math exam. In 10th and 11th grade, students are tested in English, math, science and social studies.
• The only one that students must pass is the 11th-grade exam – the high school graduation test.
• Students must pass all four sections to get a diploma – and they have multiple opportunities to pass. Last year, students had to correctly answer about 60 percent of the items to pass.
PROPOSED CHANGE
• After the TAKS test is phased out, high-schoolers would take 12 end-of-course exams.
• The tests would be in four core areas: English (English I, II and III), math (algebra I and II and geometry), science (biology, chemistry and physics) and social studies (world geography, world history and U.S. history).
• Students would need a minimum of 840 points, equivalent to a grade of 70 on each exam, to graduate. Students could fail some tests as long as they did well enough on others to reach 840.
tstutz@dallasnews.com
AUSTIN – The state's 1.25 million high school students would have to pass a series of new end-of-course exams to graduate instead of the current TAKS tests under legislation filed Thursday by the leaders of the House and Senate education committees.
The measures would eliminate the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills graduation test – which has been in use only three years – as well as two other TAKS tests administered in the ninth and 10th grades.
In all, 12 tests would be taken throughout high school – three each in English, math, science and social studies. The legislation also calls for lesser changes to tests for elementary and middle school students.
"We can all agree that the TAKS test has outlived its welcome," said Sen. Florence Shapiro, the Plano Republican who leads the Senate Education Committee.
Also Online
SAT, ACT push is dropped
With the backing of Ms. Shapiro and Rep. Rob Eissler, her counterpart in the House, the bills have strong momentum. Plus, parents and teachers have voiced increasing criticism of the TAKS, saying there is too much emphasis on the exam in schools, and many lawmakers heard the outcry during last year's campaigns.
Under the new plan, students would be required to earn a cumulative passing score of at least 840 points to get a diploma. That is the equivalent of a 70 on each exam – though students could fail some tests and still graduate if they did well enough on others to reach 840.
"This ensures that no Texas student will take a course in name only because we will assess the rigorous content we expect students to learn," Ms. Shapiro said. "End-of-course exams will allow a more in-depth study of a particular subject, as well as provide a more timely assessment of a student's grasp of that subject."
'More rigorous'
The senator also said the new tests represent a "more rigorous" assessment than the TAKS.
Mr. Eissler, R-The Woodlands, said the battery of 12 exams will give students "multiple pathways" to graduation.
"This bill holds students to high standards while not putting all of the focus on one test," he said. "These exams will allow teachers to focus on content and not simply teach to the test."
Last year, more than one in eight high school seniors – a record 31,716 students – were not eligible to get a diploma at graduation because they didn't pass all four parts of the graduation test – English, math, science and social studies – after multiple tries.
The new tests would cost an estimated $35 million to develop and would be phased in with ninth-graders entering high school in the fall of 2009. Students already in high school would still take the TAKS.
Factor into grades
Scores on the end-of-year tests would count 15 percent toward each student's final grade. The new tests would factor into schools accountability ratings, as TAKS results currently are, but Ms. Shapiro said lawmakers were working out details of how to apply them.
Teachers may be receptive to the change, said Aimee Bolender, president of Alliance/AFT, the largest teacher organization in Dallas.
"We've been asking a lot of teachers what they think, and it's been extremely well received," she said. "They view the end-of-course as being relevant to the content actually being taught, as opposed to the TAKS."
Ms. Bolender said the end-of-course exams could help students stay motivated all the way through the school year.
"Now, when students take the TAKS, they think the year's over with," she said. "They go into downtime mode."
Other changes
All students also would have to complete a college readiness diagnostic test in the eighth and 10th grades, which would allow schools to work with students who are deficient in certain subjects.
In the elementary grades, a fifth-grade social studies exam would be added, and the current fifth-grade science test would be moved to the fourth grade. Separate writing exams would be eliminated, and writing skills would instead be covered in the reading assessments for fourth through eighth grades.
The testing legislation does not affect the current requirement that students in third, fifth and eighth grades pass the TAKS to be promoted to the next grade. Currently, students are tested annually with the TAKS in grades three through 11.
Ms. Shapiro said the legislation also would establish new safeguards and criminal penalties to minimize cheating on the exams.
Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, voiced support for the changes.
"This responds to what parents are asking us to do, to make certain we teach children how to think as opposed to how to pass a test," Mr. West said.
Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, said one advantage of end-of-course exams is that students are tested right after completing the course, when the knowledge is fresh in their minds. With the current graduation test in the 11th grade, students are asked questions in subjects they may have taken two years earlier, he noted.
Teacher groups want lawmakers to ensure that any new system "not take on the high-stakes, end-all-be-all that the TAKS test evolved into," said Cindy Chapman, president of the Association of Texas Professional Educators and a high school teacher in Whiteface.
A random survey of teachers paid for by the group this year found that more than three out of four teachers believe the TAKS does not accurately measure a student's academic level and is turning students into test-takers rather than critical thinkers. In addition, more than 60 percent of teachers and parents surveyed said the TAKS has reduced learning to how well a student can take a test.
Texas has used end-of-course tests before, but they were phased out a few years ago in favor of the TAKS program.
Staff writer Joshua Benton in Dallas contributed to this report.
CURRENT SYSTEM
• High school students take the TAKS in grades nine through 11. In ninth grade, it's a reading and math exam. In 10th and 11th grade, students are tested in English, math, science and social studies.
• The only one that students must pass is the 11th-grade exam – the high school graduation test.
• Students must pass all four sections to get a diploma – and they have multiple opportunities to pass. Last year, students had to correctly answer about 60 percent of the items to pass.
PROPOSED CHANGE
• After the TAKS test is phased out, high-schoolers would take 12 end-of-course exams.
• The tests would be in four core areas: English (English I, II and III), math (algebra I and II and geometry), science (biology, chemistry and physics) and social studies (world geography, world history and U.S. history).
• Students would need a minimum of 840 points, equivalent to a grade of 70 on each exam, to graduate. Students could fail some tests as long as they did well enough on others to reach 840.