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).

I disagree with the TAKS horribly...BUT:

If you don't like the TAKS, you have other options. Homeschool, private school, or work to get rid of those things. Protesting after the fact is stupid and immature and teaches a horrible lesson to the kids. If you are in a school syatem, you follow the rules of that school system. In a country like ours, it is nice to have the luxury of being able to choose.

Not in my little world...nuclear physics is a lie spread by "the MAN!"

LOL...gotta LOVE stream of consciousness!

Then you misunderstood, credits in science ARE required for graduation.

I was talking about why it wasn't on the TAKS test not that it wasn't a required course. I know I read that somewhere about the reason for leaving off the science portion but it may have been old info that has changed. My boys don't take a science test but they are still in elementary school well Brendan is in middle school.

I know I read that somewhere about the reason for leaving off the science portion but it may have been old info that has changed.

The link that Shadesofgray posted has a science portion.