Accountability in Texas, Part 2: A STAAR is born

Time to pick up our history lesson. We left off with a critique of the so-called “Texas miracle” that occurred during the era of the TAAS test.

The next big transition to come to Texas was a move to the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), which were implemented in 2003. These tests were intended to map closely to standards set by the new Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) – the Texas curriculum standards* – and to be more rigorous than TAAS.

When the first round of results came out, Texas was shocked by results that further debunked the “Texas miracle”. The results revealed a deep achievement gap for minority students and pointed at potentially flawed previous scores/standards.The Lone Star Report called it a “reality check”, reporting that:

“The revelations of TEA’s presentation [to a House Committee] were nothing short of a confessional. Comparison of Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test results showed passing rates for reading of around 90 percent, and for mathematics around 80 percent for grades 3 to 8, compared to TAKS pass rates at panel-recommended scoring averaging around 70 percent for reading and declining to nearly 50 percent for mathematics.”

Conversations about an updated assessment began just a few short years later, and in 2009, STAAR was born – the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness.

Again, according to TEA, the goal was to increase rigor. STAAR also introduced several new concepts, most notably, the idea of end-of-course (EOC) exams. These exams are designed to measure only the content taught at a particular grade level (or in high school, in a particular subject). In addition, with STAAR, high school students must pass 12 exit exams based on required subjects in order to graduate.

With STAAR barely in the implementation stages, the backlash began. 

A high level-source of dissatisfaction heightened the issue: in early 2012, TEA Commissioner Robert Scott made a speech to the Texas Association of School Administrators that surprised many legislators and educators alike. Among Scott’s more quotable moments, he called the current testing regimen a “perversion of its original intent”.

Thus began the conversation that’s happening now, wherein former accountability advocates are flip-flopping and calling for more flexibility and fewer exams. Republican Dan Patrick stated, “We can blame the Legislature…If we have fouled this up, we need to get this right.”

And that, friends, appears to be what they’re trying to do with House Bill 5.

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*Side note: Texas curricula is a controversy in and of itself – check out http://www.therevisionariesmovie.com for some stunning (and terrifying) information on how standards are set in the Lone Star State.

Shhhh…..testing in progress.

Today, a break from the lege to talk about what testing feels like on the ground. Legislative battles over 5 or 15 tests and standards aside, students in Texas sharpened their pencils, sat down, and took STAAR tests this week.*

We can talk until we’re blue in the face about what to measure and how often, but no matter all that – the way it plays out on the ground is often a different story.

At the high school where I’m an intern, I can report that testing means an odd mix of chaos and calm. Walking the halls during testing hours, you could see proctors outside of rooms and signs on classroom doors: “DO NOT DISTURB – TESTING IN PROGRESS.”

When the bell rang for lunch or the afternoon periods after testing, chaos reigned. Kids flooded the hallways with pent up energy, and a food fight even erupted in the lunchroom. No big surprise for a few thousand kids made to sit tight for hours at a time, filling out bubble sheets and writing five-paragraph essays.

Students who weren’t taking tests were assigned to “TAKS Camp” – supposedly intensive test prep for the next round of TAKS tests. Every student I asked about that “bootcamp” was nonplussed. “Boring.” “Pointless.” “We didn’t really do anything.”

And the seniors, who didn’t have a test to take or prepare for at the moment? They sat in the gym from 9:15 in the morning until about 2pm, when classes usually resumed. Or they skipped.

I’m sure there were other kids who took it seriously. Maybe some even too seriously. But I didn’t see those kids. This is just my experience, a limited one, at just one school.

But it begs the question: for all the effort our state puts into these tests, for all the money we spend and energy we dedicate to determining their importance, what are the kids getting?

One Texas student took it upon himself to make a statement. A Junior, Kyron Birdine will graduate based on TAKS, but was forced to take the STAAR test as well, as part of a test group. His response?

“I have the TAKS test to study for, not this unneeded craziness. YOLO [You Only Live Once]”. He then tweeted a photo of his creative response. He’s been suspended and the story has gotten international attention. In case you were worried he would go forgotten, don’t be: a#freeKyron hashtag is building steam.

Silly though his action may have been, the kid has a point.

YOLO, legislators. Are we going to fix this testing mess or what?

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*STAAR is the new version of testing in Texas, being phased in over the old TAKS test. More to come on that this weekend with the second round of my version of a Texas accountability history lesson.