PRIDE of the Eastside

When the 83rd Texas Legislature convenes Jan. 8, lawmakers will be asked to consider legislation that would reduce or eliminate the effect the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test has on high school students’ grades.

The bill is being drafted by a grassroots coalition, Texans Advocating Meaningful Student Assessments, formed in January by Anderson High School parents.

“The way testing is done under STAAR takes all the joy, all the creativity and love of learning out of our classrooms. Because so much depends on the test scores, kids are no longer learning to think critically. They just learn to be test-taking machines,” said TAMSA member Dineen Majcher, who has a 10th grade student at Anderson.
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Anderson High School Principal Donna Houser said educators are also feeling the pressure.

“The accountability over the years has become more invasive upon the curriculum focus,” she said. “In other words, the curriculum is being modified to meet the demands of the test rather than the test assessing what should be taught in that core curriculum.”
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Experts interviewed for this article said there is no scientific data that links standardized test scores and academic performance…