Bring back FAILURE.

I agree with you!  "Are" kids should meet the minimum level of competancy.  Pretending that it does not matter is just setting them up for failure in the real world.

ON a side note, if a student had gotten a 3.5 in my school district, and failed the SOL (the Virginia Version), I would fire the entire school board and get some new - competant - blood in there!

This is what America has degenerated into. a group of whiney babies squalling till someone feeds them... never mind they can feed themselves, they want someone else to do it.

Pandering is what it is.

It is sending a clear message to the youngsters that they can get what they want if they whine loud enough.

Love the pic LW

i'm still wondering how one gets a 3.5 GPA and fails a "basic skills test."

something is very wrong there. i don't know where exactly, but it should be looked into.

Not racist...as you know, Texas has a large Hispanic population, so I'm sure this won't be the first time a Hispanic student gets interviewed.

Btw, there is outrage on this in our city, too. Two districts here let all of their students walk, while two others made it clear that they will "absolutely not" change their stance on this.

I ate some chocolate so the bad taste in my mouth would go away.

I don't want the kids who didn't graduate to walk. If they're not good enough to graduate, they're the kid who marches and then breaks from it to go sit with their friend on the other side of the place, asking the person next to them to move... messing up the entire flow of graduation... then gaggles about how unfair it is that they don't get their diploma until it's been earned, during the ceremony, further disrupting it... etc. But I agree. "Let. Are kids walk?" That's the question.

yeah, but i have a hard time believing that someone, despite any origin, could do that well grade wise and fail a basic skills test. they didn't say she failed english, and a 3.5 would suggest that failing english would be improbable. plus, i didn't see anything about her failing any classes, just this test.

but thanks for the polite reply whip.

but i got ask again,,,how does that happen? a basic skills test would be ,,,basic. 3.5 is an honor student. that doesn't add up. maybe i'm missing something, but i have a feeling it's not me missing something. it's either the test is bullshit, which is unlikely...again, a 3.5 student should be able to at least pass a basic skill test. more likely, she never earned that 3.5....or something...i dunno...it's strange.

"More highlights on this issue: In Dallas, a student was quoted as saying that while she finished at the top of her class with a 3.5 grade point average, she is now blocked from graduation by failing the TAKS test. "We know we're not going to get our diplomas, but we just want to walk across the stage," Martinez said. "That's all we ask for right now."

Let me get this straight; she's at the top of her class, and knows she's not going to get her diploma? Am I the only one who noticed:

WHAT GRADUATION CEREMONY IS SHE BLOCKED FROM?

If she's at the top, everyone else is below, ergo, no one got a diploma!

Does anyone know if you can really resit the exam 6 times? If so, I have absolutely no sympathy.

that's a possibility i wouldn't discount. i was under the impression, i guess falsely, that she really had a 3.5

resitance is futile, lol

I say let all the kids who earned their diplomas walk in the ceremony and then have the kids who didn't pass march up on stage and be aknowledged for their achievements(or lack there of) as well. Broadcast them loud and clear to all the Grandmas and Grandpas in the crowd. That way every one gets to participate in Graduation and we can all go home happy.

3.5 is top of the class? Is it a school of ignoramuses?

I hate grade inflation. It especially hurts those with the intelligence to earn those real A's, because they get lost in the shuffle, have their accomplishments obscured by the pleading masses who kiss ass and beg for lower standards so they can have A's too.

Pisses me off, people.

Pisses me off.

It's in between A- and B+. A- is 3.667, B+ is 3.333. "Top of the class"? Please.

I thought 3.5 was an A, A- maybe, not a B+.

This is sad. I don't even know why terrorist are bothering wanting to kill us. We seem to be doing a great job at destroying ourselves little by little. Here is a great movie that every (who has not see it) should see. It's call Idiocracy. I can give you a funny but scary idea of what could happen if we continue to dumb down our society the way we are today. And it probably won't even take 500 years like in the movie.

Each state has their own test. TAKS is the Texas Knowledge Assesment and it is hard. What irritates me is that they seem to deliberately try to "mislead" or "trick" the kids into wrong answers. I know they say it is teaching "real world" problem solving skills but I say it's unfair.

The teachers at my sons elementary school all had to sit for the 5th grade taks and said they were surprised how hard it was. Let's face it the education system is broke. While No Child Left Behind was well-intentioned, it's not working. Test scores have fallen under this program. And honestly from what I can see from my boys, all the schools do is teach to the test. If it's not on the test it's not important. No science on the test, well we don't have time for science fair this year, we have to do some more benchmark tests. Handwriting isn't on the test, well you don't need to know cursive anyay because of computers but hey we encourage the parents to teach their children cursive. We have to spend classroom time studying vocabulary and spelling words that may be on the test, doing practice testing etc.

And whether the school is letting kids slide on grades or not that is wrong for a student to have a 3.5 and not be able to pass the standardized test required for graduation. If my kids were bringing home A's and B's, I would assume that they were learning what they were supposed to learn and would think they should be able to pass the standardized test requirement for graduation.

They do put a lot of pressure on these kids with the testing. When we moved here, my son was in the third grade and he heard every single day that it didn't matter how good his grades were or what he knew, if he didn't pass the test he wouldn't be going to the next grade. That is a lot of pressure to put on an 8 year old.

Some will think I'm just making excuses but there are kids who know the stuff and just freeze on tests or don't test well. I know because my son is this way. If I ask him the questions orally, he knows them, when he sits down to take a test, he messes it up. I know this is part of being a good student but some accomodations should be made for kids who have a different learning style.

My understanding was they didn't put science on because they didn't want all the controversy about what constitutes real science (global warming?, evolution, etc.)

Also I read that 16% of seniors in Texas won't graduate this year because of failing at least one part of the TAKS. So what happens to all these kids? They become high school dropouts. Maybe get a GED. What will that do to our economy to have all these kids who can't even graduate high school now?

What good will it do the economy (or them) to not be able to function in society because they cant read a sign and understand it, or balance a checkbook? The test is a measure of how much they know, not a sheepskin from a school that is failing them. For the real test is what you did allude to. What good are they going to be when they cannot function in society WITH a diploma?

I almost wish we could get a copy of this test online or something, and people here can take it and we could all see each other's scores - the real scores, not some inflated lie like I'm afraid many people would.

If it's as hard as I've heard the TAKS is, there are probably a lot of people here (many of which have been instantly derisive on this thread) who would fail egregiously.

And I would laugh. Heartily.

That is the questions is it the student's failure, the teacher's failure, the school's failure, the school system's failure, the state's failure, no child left behind's failure? If 16% aren't graduationg, something's broken.



When college educated teachers admit that they struggled on some of the questions, it's obviously a challenging test. I don't think there's anything basic about it.

Given the high numbers - well, first it is the students failure, as they did not learn. As for the reason? Then you get to the teacher, school, system or state. Given the high number, I would look to see if it is more prevalent in some districts than in others. But since Texas is a centralized state when it comes to education (or so the courts have rules), I would look at how the state is doing in that regard.

San C: Try this: http://scotthochberg.com/taas.html

You can get tests online, or practice tests.

Here is a Grade 11 Social Studies Practice Test:

WWW Link


Grade 11 real Math TAKS (2003)

WWW Link

Grade 11 Reading TAKS (2003)\

WWW Link

Also, don't know how many of you knew, but here in Texas, they will be getting rid of the TAKS test in high school. They are planning to switch to End of Course exams in 2009.

WWW Link

The Math is not beyond Geometry (many students go through calc before exiting HS, and Geo is a Soph course). The English is very simple (I think about the same grade, maybe even earlier), and the Social studies has a heavy Texas flavor to it (like that is surprising). The science is fairly simple as well.

I bet most here could pass it. I did a sampling of the posted test, and did not have any problems (I did not feel like spending 6 hours doing the whole test).