TAAS to be replaced by fuzzier TAKS
z50\doc\web\2001\06\taks.txt June 18, 2001 Texas Education Agency
Release says TAKS will cover more subjects, be more rigorous (that
probably means way over grade level) and cover all grades from 3 to
11, with high stakes graduation level moved to grade 11. Contrast to
original Marc Tucker proposal of grades 4, 7, and Certificate of
Mastery at 10.


Sounds like it's going to be more like WASL. The TAAS that I saw in 1997 is 
actually aligned with Washington State's math EALRs for 4th grade, but the 
4th grade test questions come straight out of middle or high school level math
textbooks. The annual testing, and moving exit level from grade 10 sound like
an evolution of the original Marc Tucker standards based model.


> Texas Education Agency
> PRESS RELEASE
> 
> June 18, 2001
> 
> New Texas testing program to be called
> Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills
> 
> AUSTIN - Texas’ new generation of student tests is to be called Texas
> Assessment of Knowledge and Skills or TAKS, Commissioner of Education Jim
> Nelson announced today.
> 
> “Each time this state has launched a new testing program, the test has
> gotten
> a new name so it is fitting that the TAAS name be retired,” Nelson said.
> 
> “The Texas Assessment of Basic Skills or TABS gave way to the Texas
> Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills or TEAMS, which faded away when the
> Texas Assessment of Academic Skills emerged,” the commissioner said,
> referring to the first three generations of the Texas testing program.
> 
> “After SAT and ACT, the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills or TAAS is
> probably the best known test in the country but as someone once said, it is
> time for it to go. TAKS takes over in 2003, the date the new test is
> launched,” Nelson said.
> 
> The new test reflects its close alignment with the state’s curriculum
> standards, which are called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills.
> 
> This new testing program, which was mandated by the Texas Legislature in
> 1999, will cover more subjects and be more rigorous than the 11-year-old
> TAAS.
> 
> Annual testing will occur in grades 3-11 under the TAKS program. Under the
> TAAS program, students are tested in grades 3-8 and 10. The exit-level TAKS
> exam, which students must pass in order to receive a high school diploma,
> will move from the 10th grade to the l1th grade. The exit exam will cover
> the
> subjects of English language arts, math, science and social studies.
> 
> Additional information about the new testing program, which is in the
> developmental stage, can be found at www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment.
>