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.
