Story Created:
Oct 4, 2007 at 12:11 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Oct 4, 2007 at 12:11 PM CDT
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A national study finds that the standardized tests given to Texas public school students aren't as hard to pass as those given in other states.
The study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute says that's created a false sense of achievement in Texas, the state that served as the model for President Bush's No Child Left Behind law.
The study released today finds Texas students in 3rd through 7th grades are passing the reading and math portions of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills with lower scores than children in other states. That means, for example, that a third grader deemed proficient on the Texas reading test may fail a similar test in California.
To determine test difficulty levels, researchers analyzed scores of about 830,000 students who took both the state assessments and a national test used as a benchmark.
The Texas Education Agency questioned the use of the Measures of Academic Progress as a measuring stick. But researchers argue that the MAP was the best measuring stick because questions are aligned to each state's curriculum standards, which the TAKS is based on.
The Fordham Foundation is a Washington-based nonprofit organization that supports creating uniform educational standards and tests across state lines.
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On the Net:
Thomas B. Fordham foundation:
http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/global/index.cfm
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-10-04-07 0618EDT
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