Chris Patterson, Texas Public Policy Foundation, January 2002
It's no secret that the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) has long had big differences with the main thrust of education reform in the Lone Star State. This 64-page report, written by TPPF education research director Chris Patterson, continues in that vein. It seeks to predict whether Texas's new statewide assessments (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, or TAKS), which are to be pilot-tested in the next few months, are "on course to meet requirements and expectations." In TPPF's view, they probably aren't because, charges Ms. Patterson, they aren't all that different from the TAAS tests that they're to replace. She says "There is little evidence that TAKS tests will be sufficiently different from previous state assessments...to measure more meaningful academic expectations, set high standards for proficiency, increase test accuracy, and produce more useful information about student performance." She urges various steps to correct the problem. At their core is the highly charged political recommendation that the State Board of Education be placed in charge of the assessment system. Today the lead responsibility rests with the state commissioner of education and the Texas Education Agency that he heads - and that TPPF has had problems with for as long as I can remember. Politics aside, this report raises some non-trivial questions about the tests themselves, questions that state policymakers will surely want to consider as they move forward. You can find a PDF version of the report online at TPPF's website: www.tppf.org.
