Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills
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The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) is a primary and secondary education standardized test used in Texas to assess student attainment of math, english, science, reading, and social science skills required under Texas education standards. It is developed and graded by Pearson Education. Though created before the No Child Left Behind Act was passed, it complies with the law. It replaced the previous test called the TAAS in 2001.
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[edit] Sections
The sections a student is required to take are not the same each year. For instance, a student is not required to write an essay each year. However, math and a reading/writing section are always part of the exam. It is stated that the TAKS test is not timed. However, students are required by many schools to turn in their tests after about ten hours of testing. Sections including essay or short answer portions are taken in February to allow extra time for grading. Students in the 11th grade must pass a section each of Math, English Language Arts (or ELA, a combination of reading/writing), Science, and Social Studies. In fact, from grades 9 to 11, students follow the same regimen, except that no essay is required in 9th grade. The math and science tests allow the use of calculators along with formula charts that contain various formulae
Recently, there has been some discussion of allowing those 10th graders who achieve "commended" status on the TAKS exam to be exempt from the test during their 11th grade year.
According to a Nov. 27, 2006 article in the Houston Chronicle, lawmakers are considering doing away with TAKS during the January 2007 legislative session (probably for 2009-2010, according to some news reports) and substituting state-wide End Of Course tests in the upper grades instead.
[edit] Scoring
The essay and short answer portions are scored by graders at a secret address in Austin, Texas, though they are required to be Texas residents with a bachelor's degree. The multiple-choice questions are scored by computer. The grade is scaled and reported, though not much attention is given to this since the percentage of correct answers is also given on the score report. Those attending private schools are exempted from taking the TAKS test.
Also controversial is the Mathematics section of the test. This section of the test covers Algebra I, Geometry, and minimal use of basic skills, such as graphs, charts, and grids. The controversy lies in the fact that many students who take higher levels of mathematics seem to fail this test, because it does not test their higher-level skills, instead testing skills that they are not prepared to study. However, many in the educational community praise the test not for testing higher-level skills but for its assessment of critical thinking based on lower-level skills. Arguably this normalizes the testing field, allowing all students of all mathematical backgrounds to be scored on their knowledge and skills.
[edit] How many students truly "pass" the TAKS?
The TAKS test has also been criticized for its lax grading standards. All portions of the exam except for the written essay and free-response questions are submitted to test-taking students in the simplistic, heavily contested format used for almost all standardized testing: a question followed by four multiple choice answers (mentioned above in "Scoring"). The percentage that represents passing varies by subject area and is raised every year.
