Not content with dumbing-down textbooks, rewriting history to suit them, and other sincere efforts to keep Texas students among the least-educated in the country, Texas lawmakers have now decided to make it A-OK to be too stupid to pass standardized tests.
As noted in The Dallas Morning News,
The Senate launched its effort to roll back high-stakes testing requirements in Texas schools on Wednesday, approving a bill that would scrap the state rule mandating that new end-of-course exams in high school count as 15 percent of the grade in each subject tested. The measure was approved unanimously and sent to the House. Sen. Dan Patrick, author of the bill and chairman of the education committee, said the change was “widely requested by parents, students and educators across the state.” The rule had been suspended last year and this school year because of vigorous objections by superintendents, concerned over the large number of students who failed one more of the EOC tests last year.
Gee, maybe it's because the tests are based on actual, factual knowledge rather than Texas conservatives' fantasy history and "science"?
A bill filed in the House Wednesday by Aycock also calls for scrapping the 15 percent rule – and all members of the House education committee have signed on as co-authors. Aycock’s measure also would reduce the number of EOC tests that would have to be passed to graduate from high school – from the current 15 to five.
But take heart! There is a wee wisp of a breath of sanity, sort of:
Patrick said he plans to file legislation that would also reduce the number of exams for graduation, but he has rejected the idea of a moratorium on the EOC tests or dropping the requirement that students pass some of the exams to earn a diploma. Changes in the testing program have been prompted by high failure rates on the initial EOC tests give to ninth graders for the first time last school year. Nearly 37 percent have been unable to pass one or more exams despite three testing opportunities.
Whew. Well, that's good news. Texas students do have to pass SOME exams to get a diploma. No word on which ones. But how could they fail, with classes such as, "Christian History in The Christian Nation of America," "Know the Second Amendment," "Joe McCarthy, American Hero," and "Slavery: It Didn't Exist, It was 'Triangular Trade'" ?
Ok, I made those classes up. Sort of. I based them on the second article. But I didn't make THIS up: http://s3.amazonaws.com/...