Approximately 200 parents attended last Wednesday's community meeting on STAAR/EOC Exams in the Anderson Theater. The information presented was very enlightening and the panel who took questions following Mrs. Houser's presentation heard from about a dozen very concerned parents, with others demonstrating their agreement through applause. Parents' two major issues included backing the EOC Assessment grades out of the GPA reported on transcripts and used to build class ranks and encouraging the district to institute a conversion rate of 100/69.
Beginning Monday, Jan. 30, parents will have the opportunity to respond to an AISD survey regarding the conversion scale. In addition to responding to an AISD telephone survey, parents may go online at http://www.austinisd.org/staar to share their opinions on which conversion scale they believe the District should use. Currently, state law mandates that these tests count as 15% of a student's course grade, leaving six-week grades and finals to count for only 10.625% each.
It is vital that parents participate in this survey. It is your opportunity to express your concerns and opinions and because the district will be moving quickly, parents should not delay. The end of course tests are brand new, very challenging college-readiness exams, written in language three levels higher than the textbooks your student is using. The tests are being written by Pearson, an out-of-state testing/textbook company. Teachers have only been given broad guidelines regarding what may be on the tests, along with a dozen sample questions for each subject area. This leaves teachers trying to predict what students will need to know. Sample tests administered last year produced a 57% passing rate. School districts' and schools' state and federal accountability ratings are not being impacted this year by the scores on these tests, yet students will be held accountable with the inclusion of these test scores into final course grades.
AISD is proposing several scales for grading the test once it is scored by the outside company in June. Some Anderson PTSA members who have studied the issue extensively are recommending the adoption of the 100/69 conversion scale. They believe that this option would be the most fair for the most children while the test is being vetted in its first year of administration. In this scenario, students who fail will receive a 69 for the test. All students who pass the test will receive a 100.
Please take the time to vote on this critical survey and encourage your friends to do the same. To learn more about these and other STAAR issues, consider joining the Parents Advocating Fair Student Assessments yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ahs_ninthgrade_parents/. It is open to parents at any school and with children in any grade level.