Testing the TAKS test

[Carol Holst <kceh@AIRMAIL.NET>]

Nelson is stepping down soon. Hopefully this means we have a better
chance of fighting thing politically.


http://www.austin360.com/auto_docs/epaper/editions/thursday/editorial_6.html

Testing the TAKS test
By Jim Nelson

Special to the AMerican-Statesman

Thursday, January 31, 2002

Texas launches a new era of student testing this week when it begins
field
testing the new state exam called the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and
Skills.

Make no mistake about it -- the TAKS test is not a recycled version of
the
Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. It is a new test from top to bottom
and, like its predecessor, is expected to spur academic achievement.

The TAKS, which will be given in third through 11th grades, is broader
and
deeper than the TAAS. Mathematics, reading, language arts, science and
social studies will be tested at various grade levels. Exams are being
added
in the ninth and 11th grades.

Over the past two years, more than 80,000 Texas educators and dozens of
national testing experts have advised the Texas Education Agency in the
development of this assessment program, which is based on the state
curriculum called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Additional
educators and testing experts will help the State Board of Education
determine what score will constitute a passing level.

The three previous generations of standardized student tests in Texas
have
been primarily multiple-choice exams. The TAKS will still have
multiple-choice questions, but it will also have griddable questions, in
which students must determine the answers on their own with no options
from
which to select. The reading passages on the exams will be longer and
more

complex. The science and math exams will require students to use rulers
to
measure items, and they will require students to use complex formulas.

Sample test questions, along with background material, may be seen at
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/taks/booklets/index.html.

Every public school will participate this spring's TAKS field test.
Think of
a field test as a tryout. It is used to determine which questions are
appropriate for the test. It is a test of the questions, not of the
students.

The testing contractor will try out two to three times more test
questions
than will ultimately be used on the final exam. Any question that is
found
to be inappropriate or biased will be tossed out. The remaining
questions
will go into an item bank, and the final test will be constructed using
those questions.

Results from this field test will be studied and analyzed by educators,
parents, business people, agency staff and national testing experts.
Recommendations from these groups will be presented to the State Board
of
Education, which must set the passing standards for the TAKS.

By law, the board must set a score that determines what constitutes
passing
and failing. But the board may set additional passing levels that denote
advanced levels of performance. Many tests, including the National
Assessment of Educational Progress, which is often called the nation's
report card, set multiple performance levels. All previous Texas tests
have
only had a pass-fail standard so, if the board adopts multiple
performance
levels in November 2002, it would mark another substantial change in the
assessment program.

TAKS will be given and student, campus and district results will be
reported
for the first time in spring 2003. As required, results from the
third-grade
reading exam will be used to determine which students are promoted to
fourth
grade beginning next school year. High school juniors, beginning with
the
Class of 2005, must pass the 11th-grade exit level TAKS, along with
their
courses, in order to receive a diploma. We believe Texas students and
educators are up to the challenge the new assessment will present.


--
See you at The Soapbox!

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