Texas needs to stop focusing about
things that are not that important and start paying attention to the education
they are offering in their K-12 public schools. Texas has a very inefficient
education system that will affect us and our future generations if it’s not taken
seriously. Texas is
currently raked 43 in National Education, very disappointing. Thanks to, Senate
Bill 1031, which called for a replacement to the TAKS (Texas Assessment of
Knowledge and Skills) with the STAAR. STAAR is a more rigorous and intensified
end of course assessment that was not a good idea.
Texas
education is failing badly. Now, that STAAR is being used, public schools focus
more in covering material to pass the test than actually teaching something the
students. Students graduation are now graduating with the knowledge that was
covered on these test not on a well round education. For this same reason, we
are now having students as well as teachers stressing out about passing this
test. Due to that, failure to pass one test will keep students from graduating
or passing grade.However,
how can we expect students to be able to pass these rigorous tests if the tests
are being written beyond grade level? Students might know the material, but
might not understand how it is written. I don’t believe students should carry
the burden of having several test at the end of the year, in which are being
written in a superior lever than how was taught.
Finally,
the STAAR does not only prevent teachers from teaching other material than the
one covered in the test, or test being too hard, this test can prevent students
from being accepter to college. These score are looked at when trying to go to
college, if the score do not add up then students are more likely to get
accepted. It is not fair to measure students’ intelligence on scores test.
There could be other reasons why a student might not pass a test, such as, text
anxiety maybe. Texas needs to graduate students with a good education, not just
material covered in an end of course test, STAAR.
I have to agree with the topic discussed in The Lone Star Blog, written by Jennifer- one of my classmates. She mentioned issues of replacing a level exit test, formerly known as TAKS, with what is now known as STAAR. I remember when I was in high school, I took the TAKS test before graduation. Instead of learning any new material, we only covered study guides to pass this test. I understand the academic concern of wanting the graduating class to pass it. In the other hand, a simple test does not fully incorporate the capacity of a student. Many score poorly in tests but are excellent on hands on projects. Its a broad topic to analyze and write about the pros and cons of the issue. So the article was a good starting point on this ongoing education dilemma.
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