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I personally think that the TAAS test is a waste of time. Throughout grade school, junior high, and even high school, you couldn’t go one day without the teacher mentioning that test. It seems to me that the state puts too much pressure on teachers to teach their students certain objectives so they can pass the test and look good. Instead they should be teaching them something valuable that they will be able to use in college. What college professor wants their pupils to turn in a five paragraph essay with an intro, conclusion, and stiff thesis? That shows no great writing ability. It just shows that the student actually paid some attention in high school and played the role of a puppet so that their school could become a “blue ribbion school,” and they could get extra money. After being drilled to write one way for four years, it is extremely hard to get away from that and explore your own writing style. Plus I thought the test was extremely easy and all the preperation was pretty much useless. As long as you can read, and do some easy math concepts, you should have no problem passing the test. I am not sure what the states’ reasoning is behind the test, but if it isn’t extremely important, my vote would be to get rid of it completely.
I really do not like standardized tests, but the TAAS was really easy to me. I kind of like the feeling of not having to go to class. I am not saying I like the TAAS, I guess I am just used to it. My class was the class that had to take it a lot. We started in elementary and it seemed like every year we took it because the state kept changing the grades that needed to take it. I feel the TAAS was a good educational experience to me in junior high but not high school. I feel that we should have spent more time doing college level writings than the same old TAAS papers. I know it is important to score high on the TAAS, I mean it gets you out of taking the TASP, but I do not feel that a whole lot of teaching time should be used for those who already grasp the concept of the TAAS test.
I really dont remember much about taking the TAAS test. We did alot of reviewing and getting ready for the test in class. Some times it got anoying all, teachers going over and over and over TAAS test TAAS test. But over all the work we did in class was very helpfull and a good educational expiriance. I really dont know, I dont think my responce is really worth taking into consideration. I mean to me, I really didn’t think much about it.
I really have to say that I think that the TAAS essay was a rather damaging one. It was a paper that required absolutely no critical thinking whatsoever. The paper was easy for me to write in part, because it followed a specific formula (the 14 line elaborated paragraph) but, it was also hard for me to do because of the fact that you had to have elaboration. I’m good at bs-ing, but the bs didn’t always pertain to the paragraph, if you know what I mean. I always thought preparation for these things had to be the most mundane activity, writing the same paper over and over and over again. And then, writing another one! I would always get the “write a letter to your school principal convincing them to add or remove such and such from your school” prompt, and I always thought I did well on them, but when I got the scores back, I never got higher than a 3. In fact, it took me 10 years to get a 3 on a TAAS Writing Prompt. I have to give all the credit to my sophomore english teacher, Ms. [X], because she inspired me to be a better writer, and put it out in plain english, how to write the bullshit I had to. Overall, it was a rather bad education experience for me, and I’d have to say it damaged my critical thinking. But, as the French say, “C’est la vie!”
I remember doing so many of those practice grammar things. The ones that are like the test where you have to find whats wrong with it or something. Basically they were easy it was thinking that you should know already. The writing part was a little different. Its not that it was hard or anything it was them teaching it to us. They taught us how to pass the test. I did learn some stuff from it but it was that boring structure that this is how things are so do it like this. We actaully had to get out our essays and color code the different parts to make sure that everything was their. We had to do that to blank pages just so we could get the fell of what the graders wanted. As for taking the test itself it was like nothing. I knew I was going to pass so why even bother. When the results came in it was the same thing. My school had like 98%% pass the whole test so its like who didn’t pass.
I remember having to take the TAAS every year in elementary and middle school. They always told us “you won’t pass high school, if you don’t pass the TAAS”. (What about college?) The teachers teach you a standard form on how to write. You had to have five paragraphs, an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. I have been taught this since day one. It is hard to get away from. This method of writing was extremely easy; I received academic recognition on my TAAS scores and was exempt from taking TASP. Big deal, TAAS is a standardized test. I feel all it means is I am really good at average work. I think TAAS does not allow students to excel better then average, it limits their learning ability. Texas has a problem with educational institutions they need to raise the standards. I don’t feel it was a good educational experience.
I think studying for TAAS was a good start to learning the basics. Although I personally thought it was ridiculous for us to have to take it again in high school when they should have been teaching us something more productive. But it gave us a strong writing and language foundation to build on.
I think that I had a good teacher when it came to learning how to do the English part of the TAAS. She was really good at explaining it to the whole class. She knew how to break it down into simpler terms so that the whole class could get a grasp on the subject. Not only that, but she let us have hands on experience, and she then went over it with each one of us and told us what we did and didn’t need to change about it so that it would not only pass but it would also get academic recognition.
I think that when it comes to having to learn anything, you need a teacher that is willing to stay with you till you learn it backwards and forwards. Plus if the teacher is even better at getting you to grasp the concept, then that makes you so smart about that subject that you could turn around and teach it to someone else. This is what separates the bad teachers from the good teachers. I am glad I had a good teacher myself, because I am not good at English in the first place. It turned out that I got academic recognition on that English part of the TAAS, and if it wasn’t for the good teacher I had I probably just took the easy way out and just gave up.
I think that TAAS is emphasized more in Elementary, junior high and high school now more than ever. Teachers feel that they have to make sure that they are teaching the students how to prepare for the TAAS because the principals make such a big deal out of it. They try to get the high score so the Department of Education gives them the extra bonus money for the students scoring so high. But, I believe because of that students are learning less and not more or better. Teachers now put in the plan book exercises and strategies to learn how to do a descriptive paragraph, or a how to paragraph, or an arguementive paragraph. Teachers teach in a three-paragraph form: introduction, body, and conclusion. Teachers then, make sure or try that they are learning these basic writings. Before the TAAS students were free to write what they wanted, now they have boundaries and rules they must follow. Teachers know solely concentrate on teaching what is on the TAAS.
This does not only have to do with reading and writing, but mathematics, too. The teachers teach or “prepare” us for the TAAS. All of the work is then from old exams and exercises. So, students are then unable to learn the math that is not in the TAAS. I feel that the school system should not put as much pressure on teachers. A school should not be paid less because of the grades of the students. Teachers should be able to teach the way they feel comfortable and without the pressures of the TAAS.
I think that the TAAS experience was a little stupid. I know that we need TAAS to graduate and all but, if we can pass our courses in High School why should some test decide if we graduate or not. Many people just don’t do well on standardized testing and do to that reason many people in my High School didn’t graduate because of the TAAS test. In my High School preparing for the TAAS was a big thing because the school needed majority of the school to pass to look good. You freshman year you have to take a TAAS math class and all throughout your English classes for your freshman and sophmore year they did TAAS writing all the time. Preparing for the exam was stressful they make it seem like the test is do or die. While I was taking the test I felt very nervous and with all the pressure they put on me I know why I didn’t do so well. The first time I took the TAAS I passed every section except for the math and when I re-took the math I passed. This testing experience showed me that I am a person who doesn’t do really well on standardized testing and don’t work well under pressure. With all the pressure that they put on passing the TAAS test and how it made me feel while I was taking it was not a good experience. These factors make me believe that the TAAS was not an overall good educational experience for me.
I think that the TAAS is ANOTHER way that the state gains money. I believe that it wrong for an individual to take a test inorder to achieve a higher education.
I think that the TAAS is nonsense. I only took the TAAS once, and I pass every section, and got academic recognition on the math portion. Every class that dealt with the TAAS for example, english algebra and every other class was integrated with the classes. I got tired of going over the same information over and over.
I think that the TAAS preperation in my high school was very well taught. It was very boring at times but we all did very well. I learned alot and did well on my English part of TAAS. The test was really long but I guess that is normal in most test taking activities.
I think that the TAAS test should only be given one time in school. My class was lucky enough to get to take it every single year from third grade to ninth grade. I think that the TAAS test takes away from the essential things a student would “normally” be learning in class. Teachers are spending all their vital time with the students doing nothing but teaching and preparing for the TAAS test. I think that most schools are only concerned that their students do well, because it will give them a good name, and possibly bring in more money. For the most part, I think that the TAAS test is basically the same information, and questions year after year, and if taken more than once, can and will disrupt the learning of students. If students are only prepared to answer questions that appear on the TAAS test, what good does that do them once they graduate? Same goes for the writing portion, I mean be serious, how many published stories have you read that start out along these lines?--“Today I’m going to tell you about...” Or end like this, “In conclusion, I have just....” Yet that is how students are expected to write to earn a good, or “excepted” grade on the TAAS test. If students are doing this year after year, how can anyone expect their writing skills to improve, and advance to the next level of thinking? I trust that the TAAS test is not very beneficial to the students of our state, Texas, especially if it continues to be the only thing “really” taught in school.
I think that the TAAS test was just a waste of time, because the questions on that test were from junior high. It needs to be made harder if they want to use it as a way to see if a student has learned in high school. If not made harder they just should get rid of it because nobody benefits from it. All the preparation we did for it could have been used to learn about things that we didn’t know about.
I think that the teachers prepared us well for the TAAS test. We would do practice writings on different types of letters and papers. We went over and over punctuation rules and capitalization rules. As a students, we didn’t like the whole preparing for TAAS thing, but after we got back our results we were glad that the teachers helped us out and really pushed TAAS. Although preparing for TAAS could have been made a little bit more fun and exciting, I think that all the preparing we did helped us to write better papers and bring our scores up.
I think the TAAS test was much too easy. It did not give an accurate representation of the students’ knowledge and capabilities. It would be worthwhile if it was more challenging, even if the grades were weighted in some manner.
I thought that the TAAS test was a big waste of my time. I didn’t feel that it was a good way of determining whether or not I learned enough to complete high school. I came to Texas from Oklahoma in 6th grade. In Oklahoma, of course, we didn’t have the TAAS test, we had the Iowa Test, which was a timed test. I felt that that was much better test than the TAAS, because with the TAAS, we got all the time in the world to complete it. You can sit there and think and look and rest and everything like that, where as with a timed test, you either know it or you don’t. Also, I don’t feel that it’s good because everyone got used to taking their time and having their own TAAS test taking skills, so therefore when we got around to taking the ACT or SAT, it was a struggle to learn how to take a timed test.
I thought the TAAS test was a joke. I liked it because it got me exempt from the TASP test. I didn’t like how we prepared for the test. The test should have been given randomly. Everyday we would take time out of class to go over some problems. The TAAS test came before our normal work. The teachers always pushed us to study more for the test. Also, if you didn’t do go on the test, the would put you in “special” classes. A couple of my friends slept during the test and were thrown into these classes. They wanted everyone to pass so they would get more money.
I took the IL Prarie State Exam. I took it my sophomore year in high school. It was the dumbest test in the world, we spent forever learning what to write to do good on it. We were just regergitating back what we were told to do. It was just the same basic 5 paragraph essay. A monkey could be taught the skills needed to spit back a paper that was that simple and not thought out. This was not a good learning experience at all. I felt like it was a complete waste of time and I could have been learning such more important concepts. The results that I got back were very good but as a writer I learned nothing. All the time I spent on working towards taking that test only to find out later that no matter where you do that writing it is not acceptable. So what exactly is the point of taking the time to learn something that I will never be able to use again?