Parents, Teachers Discuss Problems With Standardized Testing
By: Brendaliss Gonzalez
Updated: December 4, 2012
A main issue of concern for parents, teachers and even business is the amount of testing kids have to go through.
Texas leads in the nation with 15 tests, the next in line has just 6.
This is one of the reasons this group is saying enough is enough.
There are so many questions, you'd think its a test, but thats what the issue is all about.
How standardized testing is affecting children right here in the big country.
Parents like Shannel Anderson believe there are just way too many state mandated tests and its starting to affect her own daughter.
"They're so stressed about the test its making the kids have emotional problems, they're sick," said Anderson.
Its not just parents, teachers are just as concerned, even retired ones like Andie Cleveland.
"We''re shorting our children, it seems to me that we have forgotten our children," said the teacher for more than 40 years.
Now a small group of professionals have joined to help parents and anyone else understand why changes need to be made when it comes to State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) testing.
"There are a lot of kids that by the time they go to middle school that they have been tested so much that they aren't also allowed to participate in courses that they aren't interested in and want to participate in, were going to lose them," said Yvonne Batts, one of the speakers at the panel.
"They're having to I would say teach to the test as opposed to sometimes teach life lessons and experiences in different subjects that would be perhaps be more helpful in their adulthood," said Laura Moore, who helped organize the panel.
Most of the members of this grassroots committee are parents themselves.
They're not against testing, just the amount and how its affecting the teaching their children receive.
The group will be having more meetings in Jan. 2013.
So far members of the Abilene Independent School District (AISD) school board have approved to join a petition to present to state lawmakers asking them to reexamine the testing system.
Texas leads in the nation with 15 tests, the next in line has just 6.
This is one of the reasons this group is saying enough is enough.
There are so many questions, you'd think its a test, but thats what the issue is all about.
How standardized testing is affecting children right here in the big country.
Parents like Shannel Anderson believe there are just way too many state mandated tests and its starting to affect her own daughter.
"They're so stressed about the test its making the kids have emotional problems, they're sick," said Anderson.
Its not just parents, teachers are just as concerned, even retired ones like Andie Cleveland.
"We''re shorting our children, it seems to me that we have forgotten our children," said the teacher for more than 40 years.
Now a small group of professionals have joined to help parents and anyone else understand why changes need to be made when it comes to State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) testing.
"There are a lot of kids that by the time they go to middle school that they have been tested so much that they aren't also allowed to participate in courses that they aren't interested in and want to participate in, were going to lose them," said Yvonne Batts, one of the speakers at the panel.
"They're having to I would say teach to the test as opposed to sometimes teach life lessons and experiences in different subjects that would be perhaps be more helpful in their adulthood," said Laura Moore, who helped organize the panel.
Most of the members of this grassroots committee are parents themselves.
They're not against testing, just the amount and how its affecting the teaching their children receive.
The group will be having more meetings in Jan. 2013.
So far members of the Abilene Independent School District (AISD) school board have approved to join a petition to present to state lawmakers asking them to reexamine the testing system.
