[Fwd: Fwd: DNC Takes Bush to Task on TAAS Test]

From: Ken Goodman (kgoodman@u.arizona.edu)
Date: Fri Mar 24 2000 - 12:12:20 PST


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Subject: Fwd: DNC Takes Bush to Task on TAAS Test
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 10:41:56 EST
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DNC Takes Bush to Task on TAAS Test

WASHINGTON, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The following has been issued by the Democratic National Committee:

 "George W. Bush claims his implausible 'reformer with results' label by pointing to his record on education accountability in Texas. But, there are serious questions about the education reform measures that Bush touts. Remember that Bush once said, 'I've had some not-so-good successes.' On education in Texas, Bush has definitely had some 'not-so-good successes.'"

- DNC Press Secretary Jenny Backus

(Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000107/DCF015 )

Facts on Bush's Education Accountability Record in Texas

Bush's claims of instituting educational accountability measures in Texas rests in part on performance on a state-wide standardized test (the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, or TAAS test). There are serious problems with the TAAS test.

* Education Experts Say Texas is Too Easy. According to several

education experts, the TAAS test was too easy. A panel of California

mathematicians described the state's math exit exam, given in 10th

grade, as "too highly focused on minimal achievement." Another

authority on reading, Sandra Stotsky formerly of Harvard and now a

senior administrator in the Massachusetts Department of Education,

found that while Texas test scores were going up, the difficulty of the

reading test was going down, suggesting that "there may have been no

real improvement in (students') reading skills. There may have even

been a decline." (Schrag column, Sacramento Bee, 3/15/00)

 * Test Exempts Too Many Students' Scores. Many of the students who take

the test do not have their scores counted towards school ratings or

state statistics. According to a USA Today editorial, "(In 1998) Texas

required that the test scores of any student without a special

education exemption be counted toward its all-important school

rankings. In just one year, Texas schools somehow found an additional

38,000 students who qualified for special education exemptions. In San

Antonio, alone, the number of test-exempt students jumped from 39% of

special education students last year to 65% this year. And guess what?

San Antonio's test scores rose -- the 'greatest victory yet' in school

reform, trumpeted the school district in a press release ... The losers

are the newly excluded special education students in San Antonio;

teachers now don't have to worry about educating them to standards."

(USA Today editorial, 9/8/99)

 * Widespread Cheating on Test Alleged: Last year, the state's Republican

Comptroller announced she was forming a new task force to examine

allegations of false dropout rates, cheating on state tests and faulty

financial records in Texas school districts, after widespread reports

of school districts altering test results and submitting inaccurate

information on state reports on the (TAAS) test.

(Dallas Morning News, 9/22/99)

 SOURCE Democratic National Committee

CO: Democratic National Committee

ST: District of Columbia, Texas

IN: EDU

SU: CPN LEG

03/16/2000 11:54 EST http://www.prnewswire.com

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