It’s been one of the biggest things to happen in schools every year in
Texas for the past few years. Teachers prepare for it months in advanced, students absolutely dread it as the days grow nearer and all principals can do is instruct the teachers the best they know how and then wait patiently for the scores to come back. That’s right, it’s TAKS time.
Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, or TAKS as it’s come to be known, happens in every city in
Texas and is required for students to graduate and carry on with the rest of their lives and it starts early. It starts as early as the 4th grade and goes all the way up to your junior year in high school where you are required to take an ‘Exit Level’ test that will determine if you graduate that year or not. If you don’t pass the three required TAKS tests, you have a few chances to retake them in order to pass and
Cleburne
High School is no exception to that.
During the days of March 2 to March 6, students were required to take their English TAKS test and then, students who hadn’t passed the Exit Level TAKS test had a chance to retake them so that their scores could be given back in time for graduation. If the students pass all of their TAKS tests in time for graduation, they can participate in it and be free of TAKS for the rest of their lives. But what had to be done to prepare all of this TAKS frenzy?
Well, first and most importantly, teachers must get everything in their room covered up that has any sort of words on it. Even if it’s one word or an entire poster, it has to be covered up to keep from helping students with their tests. Next, students must not bring
anything to class that day because everything they need will be provided for them except for a book; the book is required to be brought to the classroom in which they are testing in the day before the actual test.
Once the TAKS began, teachers and students were expected to be quiet. The teachers would give the instructions and then the students would have as much time as needed to complete the test. If any student completed before the end of the test, their two options were to read magazines or books that they had brought or to sleep on their desk without disturbing others around them. No electronics and definitely no talking, even when all the tests were taken up and over with.
CHS Principal, Monte Pritchett, made an announcement over the intercom soon after TAKS was over.
“TAKS went well and I just want to thank all the students and teachers for their cooperation," he said.
And other than a few problems in a couple of classrooms, in which untaken cell phones went off during the test, TAKS ran relatively smoothly for another year. Most students got through it okay and although they are not allowed to speak about the TAKS much until the scores come back, it’s probably best to say that students can now breathe a sigh of relief at having one TAKS test down.
But where does that put teachers and students next year? Nowhere because it was determined by the state that TAKS testing would no longer take place after 2009. The teachers would revert back to giving their students end of term exams which would also be required to graduate. But those exams will come next year and all students are focused on right now is the last few TAKS tests coming up in early April.
Students are still having as much drilled into their brains as possible before it comes up and teachers are still frantically trying to get everything covered that could show up on the tests. All and all though, the TAKS has ran relatively smoothly so far and all students can do now is study hard and be prepared for the monstrous TAKS test.
