Bipartisan Criticism of Over-Testing . . . in Texas, no Less

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

EDUCATION OFFICIALS DECRY "OVER-TESTING" IN TEXAS
Associated Press -- January 26, 2012
By Will Weissert

Austin -- State Board of Education members pressed the Texas education 
commissioner on Thursday about whether an abundance of high-stakes 
standardized testing is warping classroom teaching to ensure students 
spend more time preparing for the exams then actual learning.

Robert Scott, head of the Texas Education Agency, responded that having 
kids cram is "a perversion of what's intended" and that tests are 
supposed to ensure students don't fall through the cracks while holding 
teachers and school districts accountable. But he also acknowledged that 
some schools over-prepare for tests whose results have become the 
overwhelming standard by which education is measured statewide.

Republican board member and Dallas English teacher George Clayton 
complained that some schools have become little more than testing 
centers, offering mini-exams every two weeks to prepare for full, 
end-of-the-year standardized tests.

"Perversion? It's being truthful about what's happened in many schools, 
that testing has taken over," Clayton said. "That's all we do is test 
and prepare for tests. Make an assessment, look at the data, prepare 
another test; from August until the end of the school year."

Scott said, "we do have many districts and many campuses that are 
overemphasizing testing" and noted a backlash against a perception that 
students are being over-tested. He pointed to unsuccessful past 
legislation in the Texas House that would have imposed a two-year 
moratorium on standardized testing.

"Parents care about kids, teachers care about kids," Scott said. "The 
system doesn't give a damn about kids unless you make it care and that's 
really what the idea of testing and accountability was about."

He said testing ensures "different subgroups of kids" are not overlooked 
while higher-performing students pull up the average for a school or 
district that is then deemed successful overall.

But Scott added that while simply spending a year teaching for 
standardized tests "won't work" and doesn't improve students' scores, 
it's hard for state officials to legislate against such behavior, which 
has only been encouraged by how much credence Texas now gives to test 
results.

"I think testing's important, but you've reached a point now where 
you've created this one thing that the entire system is dependent on," 
he said. "It is the heart of the vampire, so to speak. All you have to 
do is kill that and you've killed a whole lot of things and I don't 
think that's healthy."

Board member Bob Craig, a Republican and Lubbock lawyer, said many 
districts are also afraid test results are punitive and therefore focus 
too much instruction time on them.

The discussion came as officials implement the State of Texas 
Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR test, which students begin 
taking in March and which replaces a much-maligned previous standardized 
test known as TAKS. But the new test has drawn criticism from parents, 
school administrators and some business leaders since its results count 
toward 15 percent of 9th graders' grades in core subjects.

Supporters say that ensures students will take the tests seriously, but 
those opposed believe it could hurt children's grade point averages and 
make them less attractive to college admissions boards.

Scott defended STAAR, saying "we are preparing our kids for a world full 
of tests."

"Regardless of where a child goes," he said, "if you want to leave high 
school and become a police officer a firefighter, a nurse, a lawyer, a 
doctor an accountant, you are going to take a test."

    
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Education-officials-decry-over-testing-in-Texas-2730255.php