This year, my Mini Me gets to experience taking The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test. He’s been taught to take the TAKS since beginning school in kindergarten. 75% of what he’s learned has all been in an effort to create a great test taker by the time he’s reached 3rd grade. His school has been Exemplary for three years in a row, which the administration loves to reiterate to its student body. What does it all mean? It means they have added pressure to produce positive results. The focus on taking the TAKS is so brutal that it creates nerve-racked test takers. My Mini Me surprised me when he said he’d rather get pink eye and miss taking the TAKS than have to sit through two days of tests with no recess and no P.E. He’s a smart kid. He’ll breeze through the TAKS test. However, everything that the school administration stresses on passes on to their students. If our schools are focused on teaching our students how to test, why not include lessons in de-stressing or meditation?
I don’t believe in the TAKS test or any other State Assessment test. Why? I don’t believe in it because more and more of our graduating high school seniors are ending up in remedial college courses. Why? Students have been taught to test, not to advance or be prepared for the university level courses. The introduction of these state assessment tests haven’t created more knowledgeable students. They’ve created overly stressed 8 year olds with the weight of 2 days worth of tests to determine whether or not they learned. It’s no longer left up to the teacher to dictate whether or not the student should go to the next grade. One test, and that’s the final determination on passing to the next grade level? How is this TAKS test dictating whether or not my child is a well-rounded individual? Does it test on art? History? Science? Music? Languages? Etiquette? Manners? No. It doesn’t.
I have to agree with Sir Ken Robinson that our education system is broken. Not all children learn the same. So, why are they lumped together by age? Each child should progress at their own level and be moved up as they acquire the knowledge, skills and understanding. It really bites to hear my Mini Me’s teacher say, “I can only teach as fast as the slowest learner. So, most of the time, your Mini Me is waiting around for everyone else to catch up.” If I could afford to home school, I would take great consideration to do so. He’d learn tons more with the one-on-one interaction, BUT he’d lack the social skills that are needed in order to be a member of society.
Here’s hoping the kiddos do well during the TAKS!
Enjoy the following 11 minute animation adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson :
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