For once, we get the costs of all of these tests our state administers: "Last school year, the state spent about $61.5 million to administer all its tests. The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills alone cost $48.3 million.
TPRI and Tejas Lee cost the state about $4 million annually." Scroll to bottom to see more detailed costs. One wonders whether greater levels of reading proficiency would occur if these millions went straight into the classroom rather than into the pockets of the testing companies. To be sure, the plight of the hurricane evacuees will be a boon to the testing companies. Who really profits from this reforms?
-Angela
by L. Lamor Williams
Star-Telegram Staff Writer /September 9, 2005
Educators say the state has been forcing school districts to use a state-funded reading test that doesn't accurately measure student progress or to pay for better exams themselves.
Each year, Texas kindergartners, first- and second-graders take the Texas Primary Reading Inventory or its Spanish cousin, Tejas Lee, which were implemented in the 1999-2000 school year. In 1996, then-Governor George W. Bush established the Texas Reading Initiative, which called for the testing.
The state fully reimburses districts that use the TPRI or Tejas Lee. If a district chooses to administer another state-approved exam, it gets partial reimbursement or no reimbursement from the state. And in some cases, those exams must be given more often than TPRI or Tejas Lee.
Ninety percent of districts in the state use TPRI and Tejas Lee, according to the Texas Education Agency. They include the Arlington, Birdville, Mansfield and Fort Worth school districts.
At a time when districts are already strapped for cash, some say districts have no choice but to go with the fully-funded TPRI.
"They've made it real clear. We're almost under their thumb," said Wally Carter, the Arlington school district's research and testing director.
Bush's challenge to educators when he created the Reading Initiative was that they use scientific, research-based instruction to ensure that all students were reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade. The tests are given three times a year in first and second grades and twice in kindergarten.
"Based on these tests, a teacher can identify which students are struggling and provide them early with intervention," said Linda Limon, director of the Texas Reading Initiative. "We found that a lot of kids fell through the cracks."
Each year, Texas spends millions of dollars on testing.
Last school year, the state spent about $61.5 million to administer all its tests. The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills alone cost $48.3 million.
TPRI and Tejas Lee cost the state about $4 million annually, TEA curriculum director Monica Martinez said.
Until recently, the state would annually revamp the test. Now, TPRI and Tejas Lee have been retooled so districts can use the same test materials for two years.
The TEA has allocated $4.9 million for the new cycle of two-year test kits, which cover the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years, Martinez said.
With funding from the state, TPRI is developed by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Tejas Lee is developed by the Texas Institute of Measurement Evaluation and Statistics.
Some educators say the tests rely too heavily on phonics, and many preferred the Diagnostic Reading Assessment. The DRA is on the state's approved list of assessments, but a district wouldn't be fully reimbursed for using it. It would cost Arlington $158,877 to buy DRA kits for the district's 762 kindergarten, first- and second-grade teachers.
Sylvia Davies, the Birdville school district's elementary English language arts consultant, said teachers were upset that the state stopped giving the DRA. Curriculum officials in the Fort Worth school district could not be reached for comment.
"There are other tests available that would give teachers a more precise reading level," Davies said. "Maybe someday the state will provide those also."
Limon maintains that the TPRI is a more comprehensive exam.
"Some people love TPRI and some think it takes too much time," Limon said. "But having spoken to people throughout the state, it has a lot more advocates than detractors."
IN THE KNOW
Test costs
In the 2004-05 school year, Texas spent about $61.5 million on testing.
• Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills English, exit level and Texas Assessment of Academic Skills -- $42.1 million
• Spanish version of TAKS -- $6.2 million
• End of course exams -- $400,000
• Texas English Language Performance Assessment -- $900,000
• Reading Proficiency Test in English -- $2.1 million
• State Developed Alternative Assessment II -- $5.8 million
• Texas Primary Reading Inventory and Tejas Lee -- $4 million
SOURCE: Texas Education Agency
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ONLINE:www.tea.state.tx.us/reading
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/12600026.htm
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