But Linda McNeil, a professor of education at Rice University in Houston, says the system can backfire. It ain't necessarily so, responds Debbie Graves Ratliffe, director of communications and public information at the Texas Information Agency, since the TAAS blends state and local control. I think the state has said loudly and clearly that the state will set the goal, but will allow local school districts to figure out how to meet the goal. If you've gone to a resource room, where they are trying to pump up scores, it's not a pretty thing to see. Sure sounds that way.
Children progress at different levels, especially during the early years.
It doesn't make sense. Some observers add that testing represents a return to a top-down, industrial management style. Teachers atomize knowledge to prepare students for the familiar multiple choice tests. While tests may use computation to measure math ability, the true measure of achievement should be problem solving, he says, not individual facts. The high-stakes outcome of some tests leads to cheating, and not just by students.