On Thursday April 18, 2014, Hoyland Elementary in Spring ISD sent home a form regarding the STAAR testing that would occur on Tuesday, April 22 and Wednesday April 23rd. The form stated that there would be no visitors, deliveries, etc. during STAAR testing. School would begin at 7:30 am and state testing would begin promptly […]

The TEA’s STAAR summary report clearly contemplates that some students will not be tested for reasons other than absence. Yet not a single student who refuses the test is accurately reported in that category. Instead, their data is lumped into the number of students actually tested. Their zero becomes just another student that does not meet minimum standards. Because there is no score averaging in accountability assessment, a zero means the same thing to a school as a student who fails by one question. However, for the district and TEA, the zero becomes evidence that the 95% test participation requirement has been met. These numbers then get placed on federal reports and are used to justify continued receipt of federal funds.

A recent tactic by school districts faced with opt out requests has been to not so subtly suggest to parents that if they keep their children home on STAAR administration and make up days, the schools will report the parent to the appropriate agency for institution of truancy charges. Truancy courts have become an increasingly […]

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“for a school, it is better to fail a child but report that he participated than to tell the truth that he was not tested. A failing score hurts the school less than non-participation. The impact on the child is unimportant to the data gatherers. It’s all about making the numbers.”

An assessment intended to be used to help identify the academic readiness of students shows that 90% of a discrete and identifiable subgroup is failing a mandatory portion of the curriculum and the TEA claims that not so much as a single e-mail exists in all of the agency discussing this issue!