As an educator, I understand that all teachers, students, and districts need to be held accountable for what is being taught/learned, but as an educator I realize that this is NOT the appropriate method of measurement.
For 15+ years, the TEKS (skills and knowledge taught to the students at each grade level) have not required the students to think for themselves. They have not had to think in depth or for themselves. EVERYTHING they have ever needed to complete an assignment was handed to them. The tests at the end of each year for this type of learning were TAAS and eventually TAKS.
Neither test was terribly difficult and the students had ALL THE TIME THEY NEEDED to take the test. If they needed to be in school until 10 p.m. to finish they could be! They could not be told to hurry, or be reminded to stay on task.
Starting this year, 2012, our kids are taking STAAR. This test is timed to FOUR hours per testing day and the amount of work has not lessened. Should our students be able to test in four hours? YES! But we have not raised them to understand how to work like this. They ARE NOT prepared.
For example on TAAS the writing test was a one day test. The students would answer editing and revision questions AFTER reading passages with mistakes. The students would get ONE writing charge (prompt). It could be of three different varieties (if I remember correctly): how-to, persuasive, personal narrative. All students would write to the same essay type and writing charge. They had ALL the time they needed, and two pages to write the essay on.
For TAKS, the writing test was also just a one day test. The students would answer the editing and revision questions AFTER reading passages that needed to be corrected. The questions about editing and revision were more specific and in depth compared to TAAS. The students would receive ONE writing charge. It could ONLY be a personal narrative essay. Each students would write to the same writing charge. They had ALL the time they needed, adn two pages to write the essay on.
The state realized that our tests were a joke and that they needed to be tweaked, so they came up with these guidelines. The writing test for STAAR is split over the course of TWO days. The students will ONLY have four hours to complete the test each day.
On DAY 1 of STAAR Writing the students will be given 16 Revision questions which will be 40% of the multiple choice score, and 24 Editing questions which will make up the remaining 60% of the multiple choice score. On top of those questions there will about 6-8 field questions sprinkled throughout the test, and of course they will not be identified. AND they will receive a writing prompt. They will have to read the prompt, brainstorm, write a rough draft, edit, revise and cast a final copy. (ALL OF THIS--and they still ONLY have FOUR hours!)
DAY 2 of STAAR Writing: the students will be given TWO MORE writing prompts. They must write to BOTH of them. They must read each prompt, brainstorm, write a rough draft, edit, revise and cast a final copy for BOTH essays (IN FOUR HOURS).
The unfortunate thing is this: these students have been given ALL the time they have needed to do menial tasks on every test before, but now they are being required to do literally double the work in ONLY EIGHT TOTAL hours. That is NOT fair to the kids. Not to mention....the state did not give us all the information about this test before school started for the 2011-2012 year. Our first meeting with information came in SEPTEMBER...literally ONE month after school started and ALL we found out was the daily format for the tests, and that there will be 3 essays...all of the personal narrative (extension) and expository variety. We do not know which the 3 essay will be, and we do not know which essay is the field test...so they all count just as much in our minds.
This would not be a huge fiasco IF and ONLY IF the students had not been "babied" for all of their schooling lives. Catering to them and SLOWING them down and then requiring them to speed up without warning practice is NOT ACCEPTABLE!
Every year, before TAAS and TAKS there were benchmark tests in every subject to be tested. The students had the opportunity to sit and test as if it was the real day, to get a feel for the pacing they needed to use. This year, no subject is getting that privilege. These kids have NO IDEA what is about to hit them. They are panicked NO MATTER what the teachers try to tell them. In my class I have students for 50 minutes every day. We have practiced as best we can by timing them and giving them FOUR full class days to do the assignments, but they do not get the real feel for it since it is split over an entire week.
So it is needless to say that educators and students alike will need lots of prayer in the upcoming weeks and months. We are capable of doing well, and we want to beat the socks off of TEA and their expectations.
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
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