Lies, Damned Lies, and the TAKS

{Scheduled for publication March 6, 2012}

The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) tests are a set of standardized tests that public school children in Texas must take, and ultimately pass, to graduate from high school.

The stated purpose of the TAKS is “to provide an accurate measure of student achievement in reading, writing, mathematics, social studies, and science.” A huge debate rages throughout Texas, and the nation for that matter, as to whether such standardized tests can accurately measure student achievement. This debate is moot. It is moot because the stated purpose of the TAKS is not at all the true purpose of the TAKS.

The true purpose of the TAKS, conceived by corporate reformers and their puppet politicians, is to discredit public schools and teachers. The hope is that public schools cannot get sufficient numbers of students to pass the tests, thus implying they are incompetent, and leaving the door open to takeover by privately owned charter management organizations (CMOs).

Did you like HMOs? You’re gonna love CMOs.

While the TAKS has inflicted serious injury on our public schools, it has ultimately failed in its mission. More and more students are passing the TAKS each year and more and more “Exemplary” schools are appearing across the state. Unfortunately, schools have beaten back the TAKS threat by resorting to “teaching-to-the-test.” The curriculum has been dumbed-down and lessons have been narrowed to focus on material covered by the TAKS. Extra classes have been added to do nothing but teach-the-test. Thus we have raised a generation of children whose primary skill is taking multiple choice tests.

The defeat of TAKS is a pyrrhic victory at best.

As a result of its failure, TAKS will be phased out by the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests beginning this school year. These are so-called “end-of-course” tests meaning that a separate test is administered for each subject (e.g., Algebra I, English I, Biology, Geography). Theoretically, these end-of-course tests will put an end to teaching-to-the-test. All teachers need do is teach their subject matter and their kids will pass. Theoretically.

I know of one school (not in Stephenville) that administered mid-year benchmark (practice) STAAR tests to its students. Half of the students in the school failed the math tests. Panic city. Personally, I would see the glass as half full. To have half of your students pass a test containing material they haven’t yet been taught is remarkable.  But school officials do not see it that way. They have hired outside tutors to pull students from elective classes such as art, music, and theatre to provide them extra tutoring in math. I’m sure this will soon be a common practice across the state.

So much for not teaching-to-the-test.

What is seldom mentioned about the STAAR tests is that the degree of difficulty has been raised significantly over TAKS. Also, students must take and pass many more STAAR tests than TAKS. Currently, students must pass four comprehensive TAKS tests to graduate high school. Beginning with the class of 2015, students must pass 12 STAAR tests to graduate. Harder tests and more tests lead to more failures, and make it all the easier to discredit schools.

By the way, did I mention that, during this time of economic hardship, the state of Texas is paying upwards of $500 million to Pearson Education, Inc. of London, England to prepare the STAAR tests? That’s a great deal for Pearson; not such a great deal for our kids.

On the bright side there is a growing movement across the Texas and the nation against standardized testing. This movement is led by parents who are beginning to realize that their children have been set up to fail. You can find one such group on Facebook at Texas Parents Opt Out of State Tests. This is a group definitely worth checking out.

Teachers, it’s time to join parents the resistance against the standardized testing scam. Write, phone or email your State Representative and Senator. Write, phone or email your U.S. Representative and Senator.  Tell them it’s time to stop the testing madness. Every voice helps.

In the meantime, I’ll keep writing.

Lessons Learned, part 2

{Scheduled for publication 02/06/12}

This month I promised to discuss the “cons” of the corporate education reform movement. I would discuss the “pros” but there aren’t any.

The “corporate reform” movement in education is predicated on the idea that schools should be run more like corporations.  I spent 20 plus years in the corporate world and have a pretty good idea how they operate.  Many of our biggest corporations are little more than organized crime syndicates. They pay their top executives big salaries and bonuses, squeeze the life blood from their employees, and cheat their customers. I’d say some schools, especially many charters, are already operating like corporations.

During my corporate career, I spent a few years as a Process Engineer. My job was to help design engineering and manufacturing processes that would allow said corporations to produce their widgets as efficiently and profitably as possible.  We spoke the language of TQM and Six Sigma. We were “data-driven” and made sure every step was “value added.” Malcolm Baldrige was our god. In short, we had no idea what we were talking about.

Now I’m in the education world and its déjà vu all over again. The so-called “corporate reformers” want to apply the same principles to our schools. They want us to believe that “data driven instruction” and “value added assessments” will save education. And they tell us that we can accomplish this by making our children take endless, mind-numbing, multiple-choice, standardized tests. In short, they have no idea what they’re talking about.

“Repeatability” is a key word to corporations. It means that they strive to produce identical widgets with a high degree of predictability. Widgets that are “out of spec” are bad. They must be discarded or reworked and therefore reduce profitability. This is all well and good for big business, but it has one major flaw when applied to the classroom…children aren’t widgets.

In the United States, every child should receive an equal opportunity at a quality education. But to expect equal results from each child is ludicrous. To strive for the “repeatability” of corporations is to dehumanize children and treat them as widgets. This is what we do when we say that, in order to graduate, every child must pass a standardized test written by some ivory tower REMF (Rear Echelon Meddling Fool) who hasn’t seen the inside of a classroom in a decade, if ever.

Contrary to what many corporate reformers would like you to believe, public schools try, to the best of their ability, to meet the needs of each student. Public schools offer highly qualified, certified, motivated teachers. Public schools offer individualized instruction plans for children who need them. Public schools offer a strong curriculum in academic and vocational studies. Public schools offer programs for special needs children. Public schools offer free transportation to and from schools. Public schools offer free meals to kids who can’t afford them. (These are often the only meals the kids receive.)

Public schools offer hope. No other entity offers more to the future of our children, our communities, and our nation than our educational system.

Do you believe that charter schools go to the same effort to address the needs of every child? I don’t Charter schools are businesses. (Have you noticed how many charter schools have suddenly incorporated?) My Finance 101 textbook says: “The goal of every business is to maximize shareholder wealth.” (In other words: to make the ownership rich.) Children with individual needs are “out of spec” and unprofitable. They must be discarded. Call it Socialism if you will, but to turn a profit of the backs of our children is morally reprehensible.

Of course, all of this reform talk is really just a vast smokescreen.  Ten years ago I favored charter schools. They seemed like a viable alternative (emphasis on alternative) for kids who struggled in mainstream schools. Unfortunately, the corporate gurus realized that there were billions of your tax dollars that could be funneled away from public schools , into charter schools, and ultimately into their pockets. This isn’t about reform, this isn’t about choice, this is about money.

People who stand against corporate education reform are accused of favoring the status quo. I favor neither corporate reform nor the status quo. Did not the United States have the best schools system in the world before all of this “reform?” Was there not a time when we entrusted the education of children to teachers? Do you remember a time when “independent school district” really meant independent?

 I favor a return to those times. I favor ending the micromanagement of our schools by Austin bureaucrats. I favor returning the classroom to the modern classroom teacher, equipped with modern teaching techniques and a smattering of modern technology. When we do this the United States will once again have the preeminent education system in the world.

I have more to say on Facebook at One Texas Teacher. I also recommend Save Texas Schools and Texas Parents Opt Out of State Tests. These pages are worth your time.

In the meantime, I’ll keep writing.