The days of high-stakes testing are gone here in Texas as the TAKS test has been erased and is to be removed from public education.
Toward the end of its session, the Texas Legislature unanimously passed a measure that would phase out the TAKS by 2011, to be replaced by a dozen end-of-the-year exams.
Test preparation skills and methods to "beat the test" have become the core of the curriculum for teachers, and the powers that be have finally realized that the notion that a child’s worth can be measured by one test is simply preposterous.
And because months in a classroom can be summed up in a testing booklet, right?
But the TAKS is only a head on a beast that’s roaming in public education: No Child Left Behind.
The act is up for renewal this year by Congress and Democratic presidential candidates have come out fighting against it – finally.
The legislation was passed with overwhelming Democratic support in 2001.
But let’s face it: No Child Left Behind doesn’t have a passing grade. And Texas isn’t always on the forefront of some novel idea.
Democratic presidential candidates touted the follies of the No Child Left Behind Act on Monday at the annual convention for National Education Association, the largest teacher’s union in the nation, CNN.com reported.
And while Dems have always had education in their arsenal, new, effective and innovative tactics are needed to even have a chance to overhaul public education.
