Texas State Board of Education member Don McLeroy proposed that the new TAAS include a timed computation section. McLeroy reports that Education Commissioner Jim Nelson immediately nixed the proposal. No section of the new TAAS will be timed. Without a time limit, a computation test is not a true computation test. Our experience with the TAAS has shown us that concepts that are tested will certainly be taught.
Computation is worth teaching.
If we want our children to succeed in higher math, or even to make change without counting on their fingers, we should test computation in the early grades.