Weights and Measures
While testing a group of 10th graders for their STAAR exam, I got an email from our testing coordinator. “Congratulations, you have been selected to administer the TSIA tests.” If you aren’t in education you have no idea what either of those two tests are. Many of us in education barely know. In addition to all of this we have three more STAAR tests in early May and the more driven students have AP exams around that time as well.
The TSIA stands the the Texas State Initiative Assessment. It is given to students before they graduate to determine if they need to take remedial classes at a community college before they can take the courses that really count.
Since January 1st, we have taken mock STAARs for the five different STAAR exams, we took a field test for the English STAAR because we were fortunate enough to have the state of Texas choose our school to give that exam. We have administered the SAT, both English STAAR exams, and the TSIA, AP Exams, and the other three STAAR tests will come between now and the end of the school year.
Students are told they have to pass all five STAAR tests in order to graduate. They are told they have to pass the TSIA in order to avoid paying for remedial classes that don’t count towards any degree. Teachers are told that they have to follow all of the rules or their teaching certificate could get pulled or we get drawn and quartered.
It obviously gets to the point where we have to ask exactly what we are measuring. I think all of us get it on a certain level. We want to see what students have learned. We want to make sure teachers are teaching the curriculum. We want to know if students have the skills they need to succeed in the real world. All of these are reasonable points and reasonable questions to ask.
What isn’t reasonable is putting all of that pressure on a child. What isn’t reasonable is putting all of that pressure on those teaching those children. What isn’t reasonable is designing a test where students sit for five hours fighting off fatigue and boredom to try to master a difficult test. Apparently, too many students are passing. So, the state is dramatically altering each STAAR test to make them more challenging. This is all happening during a pandemic.
Silly me, but I thought the whole point was to test whether students had mastered the skills necessary to succeed in the real world or in college. Has that changed dramatically in the last several years? Are we really adjusting to the changing times or are we simply punishing educators and kids for cracking the code to beat the test?
Meanwhile, the anxiety gets ratcheted up. A typical ninth grade student (at the tender age of 14 or 15) will take practice tests for three different STAAR tests, will take common based assessments each six weeks in all four core subject areas, will take three different STAAR exams, and will sit for the school day PSAT. That assumes they aren’t taking any AP exams. If you do the math, that’s more than 30 high stakes tests. One might wonder if you have time to do anything else.
Testing is also big business. One is free to wonder whether we really are making education better or simply filling the pockets of some powerful donors. Any good teacher wants to know that what they are doing is successful. We want to know that students are learning and that what they are learning is useful. In many cases, we are capable of doing that on our own or people within our district are capable of designing tests that can do that. They won’t take five hours we don’t have to scare the kids and threaten them. We just want to know what they know. That’s pretty easy right?
I’ve no children so am ignorant of such things, but why wouldn’t a sufficient STAAR score serve in lieu of the TSIA? Both measure learning on the same general universe of subjects — or am I wrong?
1You are not wrong. Students can be exempted from the TSIA if they perform at a mastery level on the STAAR, but mastery is a pretty high bar for most of our students. If we take everything at face value we would probably say that what needs to be known to succeed in a Composition 1 class might be different than what a typical 9th or 10th grade high school student needs to know. However, I think your point indicates that something else in play here. I would start by asking which company writes the STAAR test and which company writes the TSIA.
2I picked up a grand at school yesterday after school, asked how he was and said bored – they had testing. I graduated from HISD schools back in the dark ages when teachers taught their subject, tested you on that content and if they felt you grasped it, you moved on. I had teachers I tried hard for because I liked them and those that I hated and would not give them the pleasure of marking me down. But in all the classes, I knew what I was supposed to do/accomplish and so did the teachers. Let’s find a way to not waste the time of today’s professional teachers and students.
3My sister had a roommate in college from my mother’s hometown. I won’t mention it here but those that have followed my posts might remember it from a previous post. Her roommate made all A’s in high school and graduated near the top of her class, but was forced to take remedial classes because of her low SAT scores.
Now, there are any number of things that can explain low SAT scores. She could have had a bad day, didn’t feel well, or was otherwise distracted. She could be a bad standardized test taker. I could be blanking on another plausible explanation. The most likely explanation is that the quality of education in a tiny Texas town in the middle of nowhere is not the same as in wealthier and more established school districts. That’s not her fault.
In point of fact, it probably isn’t the fault of her teachers either. Sometimes we just don’t have the resources we need to get the job done. All that being said, I get the value of standardized tests of some kind. This is especially true now that the ten percent rule is in effect. If I’m automatically going to accept Kid A from Texas Illiterate High School I want to know they are actually literate. If they are in the top ten percent of a school where everyone is functionally illiterate then what’s the point?
ideally, these tests are used to refine our approaches and accurately access students to see where they need help. A five hour test doesn’t really do that. It measures endurance.
4Nick, Texas is scaring the hell out of Jane and me. While that over testing craze may be limited to TX at this time, it does not require Nostradumbass to predict what will happen if the QNP cheats their way to ruling our state, or worse ruling at the federal level. Lordy. Please no, nevuh another Sec Ed like Bitsy DeVile evuh again. And who can forget Dubya with “our kids be learning.”
Probably the worst thing the QNP has done to this country is undermine the value of education. That and create an unnecessary adversarial relationship between some parents and teachers. Kids need to be taught confidence in their lives at home and at school. That does not happen when conservatives attack the teachers. When did PTA become a bad thing? Or school boards become the providence of those with grievance agendas?
5you left out the ACT, which has existed for no discernable reason for as long as I can remember. we made the same kids take the SAT & ACT about two weeks apart, even though they do the same thing.
the kids i have in my room during testing have developed a coping strategy: they sleep. during the test. in some cases, before answering even a single question.
6PKM,
The best part of my current job is the relationship I get to have with my students and their parents. Since I am not in charge of giving grades then I get to be an ally. Of course, I am an ally of both the classroom teacher of record and the students. That makes for some interesting interactions but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The concept of a no child left behind seems good on its face. We really don’t want to leave children behind, but we want students to be functional adults. We want them to be able to succeed somewhere in a career of their choosing. We want them to have basic critical thinking skills. We want them to have basic math skills so they can do their taxes, buy a house, insurance, et al. We want them understand basic science so when a jackass tells them to inject themselves with bleach that they’ll know that’s a dumb idea. We want them to know enough history, civics, and reading to know that a convenience store clerk spouting off about vaccines, CRT, or 1619 project on YouTube might not be the best source.
When students can’t do these things we are all hurt. The trouble is when we expect things that are irrelevant to what I mentioned above. Students and parents aren’t dumb. They innately know what’s necessary and what isn’t. They get frustrated when they are judged on this minutia.
7If the STAAR test measures competency, and more and more students pass each year, that means (subject to the flaws of multiple-choice testing):
81) More students are competent in the tested subject matter
2) Teachers are having greater success in teaching these subjects to their students
3) Politicians would have to admit to 1 and 2 – and thus need to make sure the tests are harder.
Re too many students passing. My spouse was constantly getting grief from the impromptu classroom evaluators for teaching various required-for-the-test aspects of US History in effective, but less conventional ways. His classes had a 100% passing rate. During one of the impromptu evaluations he was told that he needed to raise the passing rate on the test. He pointed out to them that 100% of his students passed the previous two years. The evaluators doubled down and insisted 100% was not adequate and he needed to up the percentage. I think that was about the final straw for him. The micromanagement of teachers is appalling. All this testing is detrimental to learning.
9Joel, some colleges/universities require the ACT, others the SAT. So a student who wants to maximize the potential number of targets to attend will take both. Of course right now most universities also require an “application fee”, which is usually in the $50 – $100 range, although I’ve heard of one place that charges $150. And that’s just to “process” the application, which may easily consist of sending a rejection letter.
Combine that with whatever ETS (SAT’s owners) or whoever owns and runs the ACT charges, and it filters out anyone whose parents aren’t rich. And by “rich”, I mean making far more than I or my parents made.
What makes the whole thing a racket is that some universities have a simple cut-off: make less than X on the SAT, and they won’t bother reading the rest of your application. They don’t announce what X is that year, or even admit that this is done. It’s all gravy to them: cash the $100 app fee check, then send out the rejection letter. Schools in the top ten rake in major moolah from this con game, although the public institutions go to great efforts to hide it.
Of course if grandpa contributed a few million to the place, or your uncle is on the state governor’s staff, or you have been scouted as a star ball player, your application goes through a whole different process. That’s when “life experiences” or “diversity” come into play.
10Interestingly, colleges are hesitating over standardized tests: an article in
The Atlantic Magazine said
https://www.theatlantic.com › ideas › archive › 2022/04
More than three-quarters of colleges are not requiring the SAT or the ACT for admission this fall, an all-time high,
A list can be found at https://www.sparkadmissions.com/blog/what-colleges-and-universities-will-be-test-optional-in-2021-2022/
The list of august institutions includes some in Texas:
11Austin College: Test-Optional permanently
Baylor University: Test-Optional for 2022, 2023
Rice University: Test-Optional for 2022, 2023
Texas A&M University-College Station: Test-Optional for 2022
Texas Christian University: Test-Optional for 2022, 2023
Texas Tech University: Test-Optional for 2022
University of Texas-Arlington: Test-Optional for 2022
University of Texas-Austin: Test-Optional for 2022
University of Texas-Dallas: Test-Optional for 2022
I remember a few years ago scoring essay tests in TX. On one set of tests, scores were too low so in the middle of the scoring, they changed the rubric. I also remember reading over and over again the same half dozen essays about “what do you want to be when you grow up”.
12Nick, You didn’t mention the National Merit Scholarship Test/Program [NMST, as it was known when I took it half-century ago, iirc]. It is in addition to the SAT/ACT tests, and somewhat different in plan and use.
Is this NMSP testing offered in your school or district?
It was a game-changer for me [scored in the top 0.2%/99.8th percentile], coming from a rather ‘deprived’ background.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Merit_Scholarship_Program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSAT/NMSQT
Not a rote-learning memory test, despite changes over the years:
“This serves to screen program entrants, measuring critical reading ability, mathematics problem-solving ability, and writing ability, rather than existing knowledge.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Merit_Scholarship_Program#National_Merit_and_National_Achievement_Scholars
https://web.archive.org/web/20160202024936/http://www.nationalmerit.org/scholars_you_may_know.php
Lots of famous people at the above wiki link, HRClinton was noted the same year I took it [forgot if WJC was on it], but a Wikiwar currently has her off the list, others like TCruz–ugh]
.
13The Surly Professor @10, I agree with your opinion of what it appears to have become, a moneymill; having quite a few kids who ran this gauntlet prior to uni.
Driving through North Carolina last week, I heard a NC Public Radio report on a town hall meeting about NC Public Schools. The remarkable thing about the report was that the people who spoke at the meeting were sane. No Astroturf outrage. Two of the concerns I remember were allowing younger children more flexibility to master skills at their own pace and reducing the 5 weeks spent on standardized testing in order to increase instruction time.
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