Today’s students are merely bubbles on an answer document. Texas lawmakers don’t see anything beyond the test scores produced from varying shades of graphite.

Requiring high school students to pass 15 tests in order to receive their diploma, Texas has the highest amount of standardized tests in order to graduate.

Standardized tests are not an accurate portrayal of a student’s worth, especially now that testing can take between 28 and 45 days away from instructional time.

Two years ago, legislatures cut a whopping $5.4 billion dollars from public education spurring enormous out roar from teachers, parents, students, and school administrators. These lawmakers have supplemented the lack of funds with additional tests, which attributes to Texas’ low education ranking compared to states like Vermont where 91 percent of adults 25 and older have graduated from high school.

In a state that cut $5.4 billion dollars in public education funding in a span of two years, the surplus of tests only drains valuable time and resources from both teachers and students.

Critics believe that Texas’ ridiculous amount of testing also contributes to the state’s low ranks in funding, combined SAT scores, reading proficiency, and their dead last ranking for the amount of adults over the age of 25 with a diploma.
With the introduction of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test last year, things only seem to be looking worse for public education in Texas.

Save Texas Schools, an organization that opposes the over-testing in Texas, has a list of the top things wrong with STAAR testing.

The top reason being that STAAR more than tripled the number of exit-level exams. Students must pass 15 exit-level tests, a highly outrageous number compared to the four tests required under the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS).

The TAKS test wasn’t perfect, but STAAR is definitely not the solution. A bill proposed in March by the Senate Education Committee suggested that the number of tests required to graduate be lowered to five.

State legislatures need to open their eyes and realize that the over emphasis of standardized testing is a waste of time and resources.