A Tisket, A Taks Test

Something is wrong with our education system in the state of Texas. All the creativity, individuality and inspiration have been removed. The curriculum is based on TAKS- Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. It is a test given every Spring to the students. It can determine if they get promoted to the next grade. Schools are judged and receive funding based on the schools performance as a whole. All they care about are test scores. So they teach to the test. It's boring. It's stressful. It's not how students should be taught. Abate makes mostly A's and some B's in his classwork and homework. Chapter tests are usually right up there too. But give him a Benchmark exam (a practice TAKS) and he will score maybe a 50%. For Fantu it's pretty much the same. So what happens when they can't pass the Benchmark Exam? They get pulled out of another class and placed in a classroom that teaches TAKS. Okay so one class of science teaching to TAKS isn't enough - now Abate has to take two? He was removed from ESL (English as a Second Language) to be placed into this course. If we hadn't insisted that he be removed from ESL they were going to take him out of Athletics - right in the middle of track season, I don't think so! Fantu unfortunately had to give up Athletics as her only other option was Choir - they wouldn't let her drop that as she is one of the stronger singers and UIL was just around the corner. She is now in a TAKS Math class. What gets me is that they honestly expect these two kids that have only been living in the USA for 21 months to pass these insane tests? Do they really expect most kids to excel in school when it is so focused on testing? Abate and Fantu really like school. They shudder whenever the topic of home schooling comes up, they worry that I'll want to take them down that road. I really don't want to home school. I know I'm not disciplined enough to do it well. I did think though of opting the kids out of the TAKS test. In Texas that really isn't an viable option. I'd just have to keep them home from school on testing day. I would then be required to meet with school officials to argue as to why my child should still be promoted even though they didn't take the test. This is something I will have to do if they fail it. Abate opted to go ahead and take the test and hope that he can pass. It seems insane to me that a child who is repeatedly on the honor roll might not get promoted to the 9th grade because of one test is an totally unjust system. Why would a child even bother to do their best all year when they know they will test poorly and get held back. I know I'd have just blown the whole thing off. It's no wonder Texas has one of the highest dropout rates. Do the schools even care when these kids disappear from the classroom? After all they will just bring the schools test ranking down. Fantu isn't required to pass this year to get promoted but it will impact what courses she can take next year. From the looks of her schedule now she won't be having any fun at school as it will be totally academics focused. Will getting to High School be any better? No. They have tests to pass in order to graduate. ACT's, SAT's, it never stops. They both took ACT Prep exams already this year. Really was this necessary? Kids that under perform on the test at this stage of their educational career are only going to get discouraged. How do you battle the low self-esteem that this can create? So far Abate and Fantu have let these test scores roll off them like water off a duck's back. For them they still place a high value on the grades they make on their report cards. If the system doesn't change soon though we will have to face the reality that these test are the all important final hurdle that must be conquered.