At the 2012 Texas Tribune Festival, I talked about standardized testing and accountability in public education with Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams, Carolyn Heinrich of the LBJ School of Public Affairs, former Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken and Bill Hammond of the Texas Association of Business.
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Comments (5)
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How refreshing to hear Texas Workforce Commissioner Tom Pauken speak about multiple pathways to graduation. His genuine concern for students and teachers is obvious.
Alice Taylor
I hope that our representatives and Commissioner Williams listen to Mr. Pauken. He makes a lot of sense and his ideas won't Texan students as they move forward in a competitive world.
Alice Taylor
I hope that our representatives and Commissioner Williams listen to Mr. Pauken. He makes a lot of sense and his ideas won't hold back Texan students as they move forward in a competitive world.
Alice Taylor
I'm a CTE teacher so I have an oar in this boat and I'd like to make a couple of points.
One is that the suggested graduation plan for students in Texas has the 4 X 4 but also requires two years in a foreign language, a year in PE and a year in Fine Arts, that takes up another 4 credits, so the basic diploma for a kid really takes 20 out of the 26. In a 7 period day like my school that means possible 28 class hours over 4 years. Take away the required classes and you have 8 hours to participate in sports/band, retake any classes they failed, take a couple of unfamiliar classes to find your "major" and then take CTE classes to get a certification. In the end that's not enough time to take the 5 to 6 class hours a CTE course that leads to a professional certification needs. My students find they need to take at least one year of summer school to get ahead.
We don't have enough CTE classes that count towards the 4X4 and from what I've seen that is a big problem. The 4X4 would not be a big deal if the CTE students could substitute more CTE classes for mainstream core classes. For instance, business English instead of Eng. 4, medical tech classes instead of a 4th science, etc. I'm a certified art teacher but my CTE animation and graphics design classes don't count towards the fine arts credit even though a majority of the TEKS (basic knowledge that we teach) are the same. We need some flexibility there.
I would like to see professional certifications be used as a replacement for a STAARS test. Shouldn't a kid who gets a professional certification in computer repair or plumbing know enough about science to allow the State of Texas to know he's competent in physics? I would also like to see, as Commissioner Williams proposes, to use AP tests as a substitute for STAARS tests.
Sharon Stockbauer
How about including a principal, teacher, parent, and/or student on one of these panels? You know, the people who actually live with the consequences of education policy in Texas.
Got a big hole in the fence.