Watch Out, America
September 6, 1999
Someone in Ohio just
wrote to me and said that her state school superintendent had recently visited
Texas to learn about the Texas education accountability system.
Sometimes I am ashamed to admit that I
am from Texas when I hear people say they are using our Texas education
accountability system as a model.
What that really means is that the Texas Education Agency has shown
another state how to "corrupt" the data in order to fool the public.
When I hear of another fluff piece
about how wonderful the Texas accountability system is, I always want to ask
the following two questions:
The "system" is really very
simple:
Design state tests which look good to
the public when released after administering, but never let the public know how
the questions are actually weighted.
Also, don't release all the various versions of the tests — just
the ones that look particularly rigorous.
Structure the weighting system so that
the scores are low the first year the tests are given. Each year, lower the bar on the
weighting system in order to make sure the scores go steadily up.
Require that all tests be given and
scored before announcing any state results. That way the state agency will have
plenty of time to tinker with the weighting system to make sure the data shows
the predetermined results.
If all else fails,
dumb down the reading level/competency level of the questions themselves. Put lots of charts
and graphs on the tests so that students don't have to draw upon their own
knowledge-base but can find the answers in their test booklets instead.
Have the state agency "look the
other way" when schools decide to exempt huge percentages of
difficult-to-teach students or if large numbers of students just happen to be
absent on test days. If the state
agency gets caught, they should show "righteous indignation" and put
the blame on the local schools. The
state agency should select a few schools and make high-profile
"examples" of them, bringing out an "erasure report" and a
"dropout report" which have been lying dormant for years. Make the public think real teeth are
being applied to the local schools.
Write new state curriculum standards
which are performance-driven and which will require subjective scoring. Make sure the standards are broad and
nebulous so that just about any curriculum could fit. Be careful not to lock in standards
which are too explicit for fear that real accountability would follow.
Say that the new standards are rigorous
and will take students into the 21st Century while at the same time writing the
standards in grade clusters so that the outcomes-based education philosophy of
"no deadlines" can be implemented without ever having to use the
much-maligned term "OBE." If no definite standards are set, nobody
can be held personally responsible.
Continually desensitize the public by
talking about "local control and local accountability" until the
public thinks that is what they really have when in essence every classroom is
controlled by state-mandated requirements which have been heavily influenced by
Washington, D. C.
Change the grade levels of the tests
frequently so that the public cannot compare longitudinal data over time.
Through legislation, tie all entities
of the public schools — superintendents, principals, teachers, and
students — to the state-mandated tests.
(Job evaluations of superintendents and
principals in every school in Texas are now based upon how well their students
do on the TAAS.
That makes the administrators put pressure on the teachers who put
pressure on the students. As of the
76th Legislature, students are also totally tied to the TAAS
and are promoted or not promoted based upon their test results. This is not a bad plan for education
reform if the tests themselves are "the real thing" with rigorous,
knowledge-based, academic content; however, Texas is in the process of writing
new TAAS tests which the TEA plans to turn into
performance-based, subjectively scored assessments.)
Once every entity is tied to the
state-mandated tests, simply change the type of questions on the tests. Emphasize open-response and
process-oriented questions that don't have right or wrong answers but that are
evaluated subjectively by the state graders. Put lots of questions on the tests which
ask students to give their opinions or state their feelings.
At that point, the state-mandated test
results can easily be "managed."
The state agency who controls the tests can implement whatever
social/political agendas are currently popular. Since local teachers will be forced to
teach whatever is on the state-mandated tests, popular social/political agendas
will control local classroom curriculum, thus determining the way the next
generation thinks.
As a classroom teacher, I am very
uncomfortable with the idea of grooming my curriculum to align with the way
unknown people in "high places" think. I am much more comfortable with exposing
my students to knowledge-based curriculum that is designed to increase my
students' academic achievement.
After they have a solid foundation in basic, traditional knowledge, they
can arrive at their own adult conclusions regarding the societal ills of our
day.
Please forgive us in Texas for leading
the way down the slippery slope.
Texas Classroom Teacher
Hewitt, TX 76643
But … I don't live in
Texas… This isn't only in Texas,
this is also in Washington state, and probably every other state, to varying
degrees, with the same modus operandi.
Lynn M Stuter
Education Researcher
Washington State
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