STAAR may not be bright for Texas
[font color=green]Opinion article by Jeff Bright, assistant superintendent of business support services for the San Angelo Independent School District.[/font]
The Texas Education Agency, at the urging of some state leaders, has postponed (for one year) the implementation of the convoluted mandate that its highly controversial end-of-course state testing program count toward 15 percent of your child's grade in a select number of high school courses.
While there seems to be a momentary sense that the government is actually listening to its constituents and rational thinking is coming back into play, be careful what you ask for.
The Legislature has a history to fall back on. A few years ago, parents and educators asked for a reprieve from the stressful, high-stakes testing environment our state has created.
When parents said, "Please get rid of the TAKS test," the state delivered by replacing the high school exit-level exam with 12 new end-of-course tests and increasing the rigor of the exams, changed the name from TAKS to STAAR and then decided it needed to be part of a student's final grades. They proclaimed it the end of TAKS!
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2012/feb/22/staar-may-not-be-bright-for-texas/
