Noting that it's better to raise standards than to back down from a higher benchmark, Texas's board of education approved a motion to set a moderate but rising standard for passing the rigorous new TAKS exam. This replaces the celebrated TAAS test, on which many Lone Star students and schools had bumped against the ceiling. The passing standards on TAKS, which are said to roughly match the current expectations of TAAS, are being phased in over several years. Texas's practice with TAAS was to ratchet the passing scores upward and it appears this is the plan for TAKS. (Even so, 15% of 3rd graders are expected to fail the reading test at the outset.) By contrast, Michigan - which led the country in number of failing schools partly as a result of its lofty standards - has, in effect, lowered those standards, "temporarily" changing its definition of a failing school to a "more realistic standard" to avoid federal sanctions. "Students will get two years to master state TAKS exam," by Terrence Stutz, The Dallas Morning News, November 16, 2002, and "Measure of failing schools altered," by Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki, Detroit Free Press, November 15, 2002
