TAKS-ing

Yup, it's that week. The week that our entire lives revolve around. The week we all dread and anticipate at the same time. TAKS week. The week for which our schools now seem to solely exist. Throughout my years in education, I have developed a deep and intense hatred for standardized, high-stakes testing because of the way that I see that it is absolutely destroying education, at least in the schools I have been in. I know that there are many schools out there that are still committed to innovative, creative, and meaningful instruction, but unfortunately, I don't see this in the schools I am personally connected with.

Because TAKS is the measuring stick for so many things...AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress for the No Child Left Behind act), teacher effectiveness, school ratings, etc. etc, the pressure to receive certain scores becomes the driving focus of many schools. And instead of improving instruction, I feel that it is absolutely destroying it.

I cannot tell you how many times our students this year had to do some sort of mock TAKS test. I can't tell you how many times they had to do some sort of TAKS passage for common assessments. I can't tell you how many TAKS passages they did over the holidays. I can't tell you how many times our principal has mentioned or threatened passing the TAKS test this year, as if that is the only goal we have for our students. I don't know when the last time ANY of our student participated in any kind of inquiry-based independent research project or had the opportunity to use the computer lab for any type of innovative technology application. The labs are used for TAKS prep programs (read and click, read and click). No wonder our students aren't engaged! No wonder they don't see any practical application for education! They are TAKSed out! They are bored out of their minds! There is nothing as boring as yet another TAKS passage or more TAKS vocabulary or another TAKS strategy. And what happens when they get in the real world and everything isn't presented in a TAKS standardized test format? What happens when they get in the real world and don't know how to create a digital PowerPoint presentation or type a decent resume or use anything besides Wikipedia for research because all they've ever done in a computer lab is some sort of online TAKS prep program??

Teachers are frustrated because administration demands more and more "data analysis" and "student profiling" which means more and more common assessments. True, there is a big push in research and in the education world for "data-driven instruction." But I think the actual intent in the research indicates data should come from other sources besides having the students complete a zillion released TAKS tests and calling it common assessment.

More and more teachers feel compelled to violate ethical standards and "cheat" on TAKS because of the pressure that is placed on them to achieve certain results. More and more students also feel pressured to cheat, probably because they are so terrified from the dire threats that are barked at them all year. Even though 5th and 8th graders are technically the only ones required to pass reading and math in order to be promoted to the next grade, teachers and administrators falsely threaten the 6th and 7th graders with that ultimatum as well. However, by the time the test actually rolls around, the students are so tired and so sick of seeing the thick, long, boring TAKS packets, I don't think they really take it very seriously. I mean, they've already forced themselves through these long, tiring assessments so many times...it's hard to be motivated to concentrate through yet another 3-5 hr marathon reading session.

But worst of all, we have made TAKS the end-all, be-all for our students. We have created this perception in their minds that passing TAKS is the ultimate goal. If they've passed TAKS, they've achieved success. However, TAKS is just an assessment of minimal basic standards...passing TAKS does not equal college-readiness. Next week, all hell will break out in this school because the students shut down after testing is over. TAKS, their reason for existence, is over and so what's the point?? "I don't need to do homework...I passed TAKS. I don't need to read...I passed TAKS. Shoot, I don't even need to come to school....I passed TAKS" seems to be the mind-set that we have created in our students. We have given them no value for what they are learning beyond the ability it gives them to pass this test. We have given them no reason to internalize what they are learning beyond this test. Therefore, students are leaving our schools with a million strategies to pass a test, but no creative thinking and no problem-solving ability, and honestly, not even the basic knowledge and skills that the test is supposed to measure.

I am so very sad about what the kids I see in these hallways every day are missing out on. They already get the short end of the stick on so many levels, and we can't even help level the playing field by giving them a good, quality, meaningful education. I know not all schools fall prey to this test paranoia and are providing creative, rich learning opportunities, full of inquiry, technology integration, and problem-solving strategies that our kids will need to survive in the 21st century. But there are not enough of them. And certainly not enough of them in south Dallas.

Supposedly, TAKS is going to be phased out soon. I don't know much about its replacement. But I do hope that our administrators and leaders can open their eyes and see what we are doing to these kids is not healthy, helpful, or beneficial to anyone but themselves.