2. Discuss and examine public education in Texas. What is the purpose and function of an I.S.D. What are the purposes of the SBOE and the TEA? In your opinion, is the TAKS

test good for educating students in Texas? If the Legislature eliminates the TAKS test, then what should it be replaced with?

Texas education, much like the education in the United States as a whole, faces a crisis in meeting the requirements of a global community. The United States is being far surpassed by competing international educational systems. A study was conduct by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which looked at the educational systems in developed countries across the planet. The educational system in the U.S. ranked surprisingly low when compared against other countries.

The PISA studies fifteen-year-old students across the globe on three different subjects. The test given is similar to the Texas TAKS test but maintains the benefit of being compiled by experts worldwide. The test is broken down into three main categories; reading literacy, mathematics and science. The reading literacy test was conducted in the United States in the year 2000 and when compared to the other twenty seven countries who participated, the U.S. ranked fifteenth. In mathematics the U.S. ranked twenty fourth out of twenty nine and in science the U.S. ranked twenty one out of thirty countries surveyed.

It is clear that the U.S. is no longer the world leader in educational matters. Gone are the days in which the U.S. stands as a lone super power that leads the world in most metrics. Now the U.S. standardized testing within the country has received unworthy emphasis by the Board of Education, Texas Education Agency, and by the Independent School Districts across the state.
It seems like a more worthy approach to consider why the superior models that have been developed internationally have exceed our own educational efforts. Our own model has been proven to be lacking in the quality of education it provides. Others models have been shown to provide superior results. All states within the United States, including Texas, should take note of the situation and look to other models to fill in the voids that exist in the current system. To achieve this we, as a nation, should model our own system after other systems that are currently utilizing teaching methods that produce better results.

In my opinion, the TAKS should be replaced with something that is developed in a standardized manner but consistent with global metrics. Texas cannot rely on the greater U.S. To provide the answer because it is evident that they do not current have the solution either. Instead, we should look to educational systems such as those implemented in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Finland to provide insights into what may produce superior results.

Bibliography

Execute the Guilty. Honor the Innocent. Educate the Uniformed. . (2010, May 27). Retrieved May 27, 2010, from Pro-Death Penalty: http://off2dr.com/modules/cjaycontent/index.php?id=21

Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (2010, May 27). Retrieved May 27, 2010, from Executed Offenders: http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/executedoffenders.htm

(Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 2010)

(Execute the Guilty. Honor the Innocent. Educate the Uniformed., 2010)