SAT Today anyone?

[silkiechick05]

Yup it is awful.

The TAKS doesn't mean anything in the long run. The emphasis on it is ridiculous. Do HS students have to take it? Will your kids have to take the STAAR tests?

 

[PineappleMama]

They're converting to the STAAR system starting in August... BUT the kids that are currently 7th (I think?) Graders this year will continue with the TAKS... kids entering 7th (after 3-6 TAKS training) are the ones that'll be learning a new system, pass or fail. It's those I worry most about... and yep, my son's one of them.

One more reason we're trying HS over the summer... in Texas private schools*, no state funding, are not required to do the standardized tests at all. No wasting months of class time on it... so you can actually learn something useful... I'm really hoping it works for us.

*Texas considers homeschool a private school, thus it's none of their business so long as you're covering Eng, Sci, SS, Math and teaching good citizenship (funny that the public schools don't seem to have those same guidelines. *growl*)... no checking in with your district, county, state is required... though once AISD tried to go after a HSer.. don't think they cared to much for the TSC's (whoa Texas Supreme Court and Tractor Supply Co have the same initials) decision.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

The problem with history books is (as the saying goes) they are written by the "winners." There is far more that happened historically than can be condensed into a book, so the writers include the things THEY feel were the most important or pertinent. The same kind of thing occurs with literature. Anyways, whose point of view are you going to take? Well, regardless of what you choose, you've eliminated alternative viewpoints and taken space that someone else may feel ought to be devted to something you consider less important.

When I was a kid growing up in Texas there was a lot less predjudice against hispanics than I see there now. We read about the Mexicans that fought with the Texicans at the Alamo as well as Santa Ana's army and the horrendous things that were done to settlers (Goliad). What we did not get was a woder view of what was going on in Mexico and hte world as a whole during that timeframe and how that impacted the choices Mexico made.

 

[PineappleMama]

Same note, wasn't until I was an adult that I heard about the Maryland Toleration Act... now there's a nasty piece of American history...

It's important that we remember... else we're doomed to repeat the same old mistakes... if we learn from the past at least we'll be making new ones.

Tricky part of course is that in theory the TAKS test would cover what that subject is teaching in that grade... that they're all using the same book, all teaching the same everything across the board... that's not always the case... not to mention that textbooks are only replaced... what every 10 years? New info is found, new stuff is taught... and the test may or may not reflect that.

Even harder when you talk about a national standardized test... like the SAT/ACT.

Those tests can only be so long, so no matter what a lot is not going to be included... it's a shame that the stuff that isn't on the test isn't taught because it's good stuff, that was a part of the curriculum for a reason... IE the Alamo logistics, or the truth about the Trail of Tears and the other horrors visited upon the natives by the 'peaceful settlers'... oh, shouldn't have opened that box... gonna leave before I hit full rant mode.