Business deals with high stakes testing creators take a half a billion dollars from our state education budget and put it into the hands of ONE private company. Now that's a sweet deal! Teachers create tests all the time. I wonder if Pearson asked them for any help.
Public education funding in the spotlight | funding, education, public - Odessa American Online
“We have custodians, food service personnel, teacher’s aides and secretaries… and our support staff works hard. But when you eliminate positions, the work doesn’t go away,” Isner said.
This has led many to take a look at what the
state spends on high-stakes testing. ECISD retiree John Duncan took the podium and said an open records request found on the website www.texasisd.com said
Texas paid $90,665,041 to a company called Pearson on standardized student assessment for the 2010-2011 school year alone. The same site reported when the Texas Education Agency renewed its contract with Pearson for 2010-2015 to develop the new STAAR test, it was to the tune of $468,392,617, Duncan said.
“I am sure that expenses on this testing are already contractually obligated but there seems to be little problem getting rid of teachers that are already contractually obligated. Why can’t this testing be put off until better times?” Duncan said.
Standardized Testing Under Fire
HB 500, a bill by Rep. Rob Eissler, Republican of The Woodlands, would reduce to four from 12 the number of end-of-course tests a student must pass in order to graduate under the new STAAR testing regime for students entering high school in the fall. Among other things, his bill also gives districts discretion to decide how much end-of-course exams will count toward a student’s final grade.
Today Rep. Eissler brought this bill to the floor, where he derided what he called “self-styled education experts” who claim HB 500 would lower academic standards. Eissler also fended off amendments proposed by lawmakers who attacked from the opposite direction, voicing their frustration with the excessive emphasis on standardized testing. Ultimately, the bill passed easily on second reading without a record vote (it faces a final House vote tomorrow), reflecting Eissler’s success at channeling anti-testing sentiment without fundamentally changing the test-driven accountability system.
Unbelieveable.
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Where the heck is everybody! Complimenting the Emperor's clothes?
ReplyDeleteThe entire STAAR testing system is completely nullified since school districts have discretion over how to interpret and implement the law's requirements. Several school districts are not counting the EOC scores in GPA/class while others feel compelled to do so, since their view is that was the original intent of the law. Unfortunately, as usual, the losers here are our students because they will be unfairly penalized when being considered for scholarships and college entrance if they reside in a school district that chooses to include the scores in GPA/class rank. The legislators, in their infinite wisdom, created this mess by leaving far too much ambiguity in the law. If they write a law, they ought to have the backbone to spell it out for those who must implement and abide by. All districts should treat all students the same way.
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