Austin Skeptical Society

A quick blurb from the Austin American-Statesman had this little piece of prophecy regarding Texas’ students (the last blurb on the page):

PUBLIC EDUCATION

Early word: New tests are tough

As hundreds of Texas school districts get a jump on the end-of-course tests that will debut statewide in two years, preliminary results indicate a large number of students will have trouble passing the exams, the Dallas Morning News reported.

High school students will be required to pass the battery of 12 end-of-course tests beginning with freshmen entering high school in the 2011-12 school year. But many districts are already giving versions of the tests to their students, and some are even using them as final exams.

The Algebra I test was administered to nearly 79,000 students this year; 57 percent of them passed. Results were similar on the tests measuring knowledge and skills in biology, chemistry, geometry and U.S. history.

I’m not sure where these tests come from; the article doesn’t say. But if they’re anything like the tests implemented when I was going through public school in Michigan, they’re designed to test basic knowledge of the various scholastic disciplines. An inability to pass the test is meant to reflect that you simply didn’t learn — or weren’t exposed to — the materials everyone is expected to know before they graduate from high school.

Given that Texas also has draconian measures in place requiring public universities to admit the top 10% of students from each high school, we ought to expect a continued decline in the caliber of students enrolled in the state’s many universities. Add on budget cuts, inept governing bodies, and falling standards, and we can expect another generation to go through the Texas educational system and come out the other side as failures.

The least we can do as skeptics is promote strong education initiatives, but it’s hard to see where to begin our push.

One place: the Texas State Board of Education. Elections are coming up, and a handful of the members are facing strong opposition. Check out http://www.teachthemscience.org/ for a rundown of the various SBOE members, their positions, and their opponents.