Texas school districts plan ratings without STAAR
1. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20131014-texas-school-districts-plan-ratings-without-staar.ece
2. Education
3. State Level
4. A potential policy that is being considered to help a problem/issue that individuals/families face.
5. This potential policy is important for both individuals and families. It is important for individuals because there could be a new way of testing students. It is important for families because they way their children are tested could change.
6. I personally think that passing a new policy on testing in Texas would be extremely beneficial. When I was in Middle School and High School state mandated tests had a negative effect on my learning opportunities in my opinion. The teachers only focused on the state test and in doing so I feel like I was not exactly prepared for college or the real world, I was only prepared for the State test. I think that the school districts that are pushing for a new testing system without the STAAR test should keep pushing for it. I believe if teachers are able to focus more on learning and preparing students for college and the real world and not for a State mandated test students would thrive. I also think by not have the STAAR test the teachers would be able to create a more hands on and fun learning environment. I believe that students need to be at a certain level to pass and move on but State tests cause teachers to focus more on that material rather than material that will actually help students outside of the test material. I also think by not having a STAAR test will help with the stress and pressure to do well and open up a new learning environment that doesn't have so much riding on it.
Texas school districts plan ratings without STAAR
Staff Writer
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Published:
Updated:
Members of the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium are set to meet in Dallas on Thursday to consider the framework of the new system. It would be voluntary and run parallel to the state ratings.
Current standards, mostly based on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, “focus on a shame and blame environment to drive school improvement,” said Dawson Orr, superintendent of Highland Park ISD, a consortium member.
The new idea uses other tests already employed by some school districts. It would tailor some ratings and standards locally. It isn’t designed to compare school districts or schools. There’s no set of rewards for success or penalties for failure.
But its designers say it would be more useful for locals who want to understand how well their district is educating its students.
“This is being accountable to them,” said Karen Rue, superintendent of Northwest ISD, northwest of Fort Worth. Her district is the furthest along in turning the ideas into an actual system.
Northwest is a fast-growing district with about 17,000 students. About 20 percent are Hispanic and 6 percent are black. About a quarter are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
The system that Rue has been creating uses information the district is already gathering; no additional testing is needed.
“We’ve had all this data for years,” she said. “Now we’re going to share it.”
The consortium was created by state law in 2011, charged to develop “innovative, next-generation learning standards and assessment and accountability systems.”
The group’s leaders generally share a skepticism about the validity of the state’s tests and a preference for national tests such as the SAT and ACT. They oppose the use of “one-day, high-stakes” state tests as the most important tool of accountability. They want to use non-test techniques — portfolios, for instance — for aspects of education not easily captured on a multiple-choice exam. And they want much greater local control over how districts define success.
Their opponents, including some educators and business leaders, say the state tests are superior to national exams at determining whether students are learning the Texas-mandated curriculum. And that standards not based on tests given statewide are too easily manipulated.
A bill passed without opposition by state legislators this session would have granted the 23 districts in the consortium — with about 5 percent of the state’s students — the right to avoid some STAAR tests and the state’s ratings.
Gov. Rick Perry vetoed the bill.
“Flexibility and innovation are important, but we will not compromise academic rigor or student outcomes,” Perry wrote in his veto message.
What did that leave for the consortium? Several members have been working on developing an alternate accountability system for several years. So they’re going ahead with it even as they comply with state requirements.
“We hope to present information to those policymakers that this might be a better way to assess students,” Orr said.
Several North Texas districts are included in the consortium: Coppell, Duncanville, Highland Park, Irving, Lancaster, McKinney, Northwest, Richardson and Prosper.
The idea to be presented Thursday includes two components: one that might be roughly comparable across districts and one that would be intensely local.
The broad standards include checking reading, math and science for elementary and middle school students — but not every year for every grade. STAAR tests might be included. But other assessment tools that already test kids regularly through the school year could be employed.
For high school students, measures of “postsecondary readiness” could include PSAT, SAT, AP and other national tests that some districts already provide for all students. A fourth category, “postsecondary success,” would use a tracking system that allows districts to follow the college record of graduates.
The local standards, created by each district, could include other ways to check on academic success, as well as assessing the effectiveness of career and technical training, measuring student engagement and determining how connected schools are to the community.
Will anybody pay attention to an assessment system that isn’t required by state law?
Figure on taking several years to come up with any answers, consortium leaders said.
“It’s not learning if there’s no struggle to it,” Rue said.
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