Earlier this week we wrote a blog about why we shouldn't pass students that haven't mastered the material. This is something that I have been thinking a lot about. For some reason this week it has come up in numerous conversations. In the previous blog I wrote about how teachers often pass students that are not ready for the next grade. Since then I have been thinking a lot about the STAAR. We have a test that is supposed to show students understanding of a subject. Included in the STAAR are college readiness questions to show students ability. We say students must master this material before they can graduate, but is that what we really mean? No. What we mean is that students must master only 44% of the material. Not even half. Students can miss every single college readiness question and still pass. If we designed a strong test, that would show if students know the material or not, why are we saying they don't actually have to know it?
Student pass the test with with 50% so we put them in geometry or algebra 2. Students fail the test, so we put them in geometry or algebra 2, and hope they learn it. Where it the emphasis on making sure students learn? If we don't expect students to learn it, they wont. Again, we keep moving students along that haven't learned the material.
Student pass the test with with 50% so we put them in geometry or algebra 2. Students fail the test, so we put them in geometry or algebra 2, and hope they learn it. Where it the emphasis on making sure students learn? If we don't expect students to learn it, they wont. Again, we keep moving students along that haven't learned the material.
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