Video: KTRK 13 News
Kate Alexander, Austin Statesman
State-mandated tests loom for public school students across Texas this week, but fifth- and eighth-graders do not yet know if they must pass the exams to move up a grade.
The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness begin Tuesday for fifth- and eighth-graders, and “parents and students should assume that the promotion requirements will be in place,” said Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe, who added that a decision might come early this week.
Under state law, schools are not allowed to promote students automatically to the next grade if they fail the tests. But for that ban to be in effect, Education Commissioner Michael Williams must certify that there is enough money in an accelerated instruction program called the Student Success Initiative. That program pays for tutoring and other remediation for students struggling to pass the state exams.
Two years ago, legislators cut the program by $237 million, leaving just $41 million in the two-year budget, as part of the overall $5.4 billion reduction to public schools.
The agency did not ask budget-writers to restore that money for the upcoming 2014-15 budget. Williams has also told legislators that the agency can provide the needed remediation services without it.
But many lawmakers are not convinced and have been asking questions about the program and its funding. Those questions have delayed a decision from Williams, Ratcliffe said.
“The reality is that we can’t hold students accountable if we don’t provide the resources,” state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, said last month after the Senate Finance Committee provided only $50 million for the program for the next two years.
Ninth- and 10th-graders take the end-of-course writing exams beginning Monday amid their own uncertainty over the tests’ future. They are currently required to take 15 high-stakes exams over the course of their high school careers — three years of math, science, social studies, reading and writing — but that could soon change.
The Texas House voted last week to reduce the requirements to five tests, a change that would apply retroactively to today’s ninth- and 10-graders if it becomes law. The Senate has not taken up the legislation, but it is also moving towards reducing the number of exams required for graduation.
(Read more of this story at Austin Statesman)
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