The Texas Public Policy Foundation recently published a policy paper about Texas public school accountability by Brooke Terry. The San Antonio Express News published a version of it today in the comment section. Ms. Terry pointed out that politicians define an acceptable school by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) passing standards listed below.Area Tested & Percent passing
Reading ≥ 70%
Writing/ Social Studies ≥ 65%
Math ≥ 50%
Science ≥ 45%
This chart is one piece of the accountability puzzle. Other pieces include: subpopulation passing rates, dropout rates, attendance rates, and special education testing. This list excludes federal requirements for annual yearly progress (AYP). To say that the passing expectations are low is a good point, but this does not mean that the other aforementioned variables make being an acceptable school easy, especially, when these standards are applied to schools with a high at-risk population.
Another metric not publicized is a percentile rank score for each TAKS test taken. The PRS is probably the best indicator for parents and educators to evaluate a student’s academic standing compared to his peers. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) lists the formula, but an easier way to determine a relative position is to use the cumulative frequency listed on the frequency distribution. Schools, students, and parents get very excited when a student scores commended on the TAKS test, and schools use the commended score as an indicator of excellence. However, a commended score (2400) does not always reflect excellence, unless you define excellence as the 57th percentile. This was the commended rank on the 6th grade reading TAKS in 2007. Additionally, the 6th grade passing score (2100) in reading was at the 10th percentile. The 10th percentile definitely does not show college potential and a student scoring here should be classified as at-risk for dropping out even though he passed the test. Parents need to understand this data when evaluating student course placement and post secondary education options. It was recently reported that 50% of Texas college students need remedial classes. Maybe many of those students are misplaced in college, but if they didn’t go to college, what would they do? This is a good topic for further discussion in the future.
There are many studies that discuss the variables contributing to student success, but the number one has got to be parental involvement. Parent support throughout your child’s education is crucial, and my experience has convinced me that this is the most important variable. Researcher James Sloan is sure to create controversy in government circles when he said: “No evidence was found in [my] study that school size, expenditure, pupil/teacher ratios, teacher education or teacher experience generally make a difference in students ‘probability of success.” These issues are under village control and politicized.
Parents take charge, ask tough questions, be realistic, and involve yourself in the education of what you love the most- your children.
