New Texas education boss Morath offers intriguing option for standardized testing
Mike Morath has been the Texas education commissioner only since Jan. 4 and already he’s bringing some common sense to STAAR-replacement ideas. (NYT Photo)
Speaking to a testing advisory board in Austin — which is considering replacing the STAAR system — and reported in this Austin American-Statesman article, Morath said he envisions a new testing protocol that would assess students on a smaller scale throughout the year.
The 15-member Texas Commission on Next Generation Assessments and Accountability group must make recommendations to lawmakers by Sept. 1 to improve or replace the STAAR testing system.
You may recall that Morath was named just last fall by Gov. Greg Abbott to serve as the presiding officer of that accountability group. Less than two months later, Abbott decided to put Morath in charge of the entire education operation.
The idea Morath floated yesterday to the group he formerly headed would allow teachers immediate feedback on student achievement, which would influence how they, in turn, adapt their instruction in the following months.
“When you start looking at the state mandating one specific approach in every classroom, it becomes problematic,” Morath said, according to the Statesman story.
We know how passionate Morath was about using data to drive decisions during his four years on the Dallas school board. He also was known for his laser-focus on the achievement of students more than the bureaucratic needs of the system. My former colleague and education-smart-guy Bill McKenzie wrote in January about how Morath would bring these skills into play in Austin.
I think it’s a grand first step that Morath is open to different ways of going about testing. It seems that his suggestion could both lessen the pressure on students by test-as-you-go assessments and keep parents and teachers from end-of-session surprises. Yes, I know that interim testing is done already, but remodeling the state accountability system along these lines would be a significant change.
Many of us want to ensure that no system is put into place that causes Texas to backslide too far on accountability issues because such a slide would grow the achievement gap. However, I don’t believe anything about Morath’s background indicates he will let that happen. He has the common sense to find ways to make a system most recently called STAAR a more constructive protocol for all involved.
As I wrote last fall, I don’t have the magic formula for the best testing approach. McKenzie and I used to regularly dog cuss each other (well, as much as Bill dog-cussed anyone) about the testing issue when I joined the editorial board back in 2004. I had two sons in middle school and high school at the time, both of them in the TAG program New Texas education boss Morath offers intriguing option for standardized testing | | Dallas Morning News:
