Northside ISD STAAR Math: 100 – 8 = 71
Schools get their hackles up if parents suggest that they are teaching to the STAAR test. Even though all of our kids know it and tell us, the schools deny it to the ends of the earth. They assure us that they just follow the curriculum, and it aligns with STAAR, and that the STAAR preparation is just a byproduct of the curriculum they are teaching anyway. At Garcia Middle School, in Northside ISD, however, the evidence is quite to the contrary.
As with many schools, students have been preparing for the STAAR test by working released tests from last year’s administration. At Northside ISD, the 8th grade was given the released test as a homework assignment. Immediately though, the instructions raised questions. Each of the 53 problems were worth two points, but only one point was awarded for working the problem correctly. The other point was for using appropriate strategies.
Strategies, in our day, meant things like work the problem; if you aren’t sure, eliminate the obviously wrong answers; if you still aren’t sure, guess if you have it down to two choices. Today, though, using strategies has nothing to do with what works to help the student learn. It is a rote application of a process that somebody thought made a clever mnemonic. At Garcia MS, the mnemonic is CLUES.
Of course not everyone thinks the same way, or processes information the same way. One eighth grade honor student apparently tackled his test in a method that made sense to him, and that worked. Imagine the young student’s surprise when his homework with 49 of 53 problems correct was returned with a grade of 71.
This, of course, led his mother to send an email to the teacher asking about the assignment. In the response we see that STAAR is not about teaching science, but rather strategies. The teacher is unashamed and unapologetic about deducting points for correct answers if the answers were derived without using the CLUES process.
As the understandably irritated mother put it: “ What do you tell a child? Sorry honey, it doesn’t matter if you get the answers right, or wrong. If they can’t reach into your brain and see that you processed your answers EXACTLY the way they want you to, then you don’t get credit. What kind of insanity is this?” The mother is planning to appeal this grade. We’ll keep you updated.
Modified:
Please keep fighting. I’m an special populations educator and a parent, I too am fighting the never-ending battle.
What rights does my 11 yr old have? What rights do I have as his mother? My son failed the math portion of STAAR and right away,hi teacher submitted a form (w/o my consent) to have him tested & evaluated for Special Education. I found out when I was sent my own forms to fill out, which asked personal questions about relationships within the fam and other personal stuff. I refused to fill it out and this made his teacher mad. She now has a diff attitude against my child and refuses to help him.Instead, she signed & recommended him for summer school so he can take the math STAARS again. My poor baby is burned out, stressed and feels humiliated. He is too young to be suffering from anxieties and stress. I don’t want him to take the exam anymore nor go to summer school, but they told me if I don’t he will repeat same grade again. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Mary – if you submit a contact form through the website, I can have someone give you a call. We can’t provide specific advice via the internet.
I have a similar question. My son is in 8 th grade, we moved back to Texas from Florida in Sept. Of last year. ( lived in Texas prior to move and he all but maxed the TAKs tests)
He has taken the Staar test three times now and failed all three times! He is has improved each and every time he has taken it. The second test, I was told by the principal and counselor that he missed by three questions, his score was 1554, and the third time was 1563, so he probably missed the darn thing by one!
This is extremely frustrating! We have a meeting with the principal on Monday, and have no idea what our alternatives are!
This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Garcia MS is doing to the students in preparation for STAAR. They send home STAAR prep homework that hasn’t been reviewed and their is NO correct answer to the math problems. But it’s not limited to math. We just got a homework assignment for 8th grade science in prep for STAAR that requires the students to interpret 35 Science TEKS, define a minimum of 5 vocab words for each TEK (35×5=175), find or draw 3 visuals for each TEK (35×3 = 105). Many teachers have trouble interpreting the TEKS. They are asking this of students? This is ALL homework. Could someone tell me where the INSTRUCTION is from the school?
Garcia MS is more concerned with how they look on some spreadsheet of test scores that about our child’s education.