Chamber of Commerce Calls for Testing Reform
The Lufkin/Angelina County Chamber of Commerce is the first Chamber in the state to send a board-approved resolution to Austin expressing serious concerns over what standardized testing is doing to Texas’ public schools, and to school students.
Texas public school students now take a new test called the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR. It's the fourth such standardized test since 1986.
The Angelina Chamber resolution says there is entirely too much reliance on standardized testing. It says this is putting our children's future at risk, and by extension, putting the state's future prosperity at risk.
The resolution calls on lawmakers to re-examine the state's public school accountability system. It says we must find better ways to engage students in the classrooms and measure their progress.
Here's a link to the full resolution:
The STAAR Test went into effect last year, to replace the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, or TAKS test, which was adopted in 2003.
TAKS replaced the previous test, called the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, or TAAS.
TAAS was developed in 1990, to replace the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills or TEAMS test, which was developed in 1986.
It has been estimated that Texas teachers spend up to one third of their class time just preparing their students for the state tests.
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