Monday, January 21, 2008

Let's Take Care of What's Really Important

As teachers we've listened to years of political hacks telling us how important standardized tests were, how schools needed their feet held to the fire and how if it wasn't measured it wouldn't improved.

Well, Texas politicians and school officials have proven that tests are not really that important. Seems there was a little problem in scheduling. Texas primaries were scheduled on the same day as TAKS testing in the schools, and since a large number of polling places are in schools school officials and the governor decided to reschedule the mostly pointless primaries.

Just kidding of course. Instead they moved the all important, schools have to be accountable through standardized test, TAKS test to a day later.


Via the Corsicana Daily Sun.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Indeed. Isn't it fascinating that the TAKS test is the alpha and the omega, indispensible testing perfection itself, until the next indispensible test comes along to supplant it, as TASS was supplanted by TAKS? And isn't it fascinating that the TEA is embarking on a horrendously demanding security regime in the final year or two of the TAKS test?

I have it on good authority that the security of the TAKS test is so important, so vital to safety of the nation--in fact the new rules promise dismissal for any teacher who so much as looks at the thing--that it has already been leaked to the New York Times who will shortly expose it to every Islamic terrorist on the planet.

Scott S. Floyd said...

Lest we forget about the new mother of all standardized tests: FitnessGram, or as I like to call it, the FATS test. Fitness Assessment Texas Style. Read more about it here: http://www.fitnessgram.net/texas/

All exams must be completed on ALL 3rd through 12th grade students before the end of the year with repeated exams at intervals in the future. Joy. To quote one of my principals, "Do you want them to read, or do you want them thin?" So does that mean All fat kids=well-read?

Then we have the male coaches who are now REQUIRED by law to grab girls' skin under on their bodies and stretch it to measure. Hmmmm. See any issues here yet?

Dr Pezz said...

I have another saying I use about the usefulness of things in my building: "When an administrator is out, no substitute is required."