November 24, 2015      1:09 PM
SBOE to tour Texas for feedback on assessment, accountability
Teachers or parents often dominate these with complaints about “teaching to the test” – this tour is intended to put parents, educators and business all equally at the table
The State
Board of Education will travel the state this spring – the kind of tour
it has not done in nearly two decades – to field concerns and prepare for its
part in the “Next-Generation Assessment Commission.” It’s a commission intended
to vet potential changes to the accountability and assessment system. The bill
that created the 15 member panel, House Bill 2804, also institutes a
yet-to-be-defined A-F rating system.
Board Chair
Donna Bahorich put eight tentative
dates on the calendar and set out a protocol that includes facilitated small
group discussions. Three different groups of stakeholders – educators, parents
and business – are invited to the discussion. But, unlike talks in Austin,
Bahorich said no one group will be allowed to dominate the conversation.
“Decisions
are typically made by those who are showing up in Austin,” Bahorich said. “We
need to ask, ‘What are some of the unintended consequences? What are the
benefits of what we’ve seen of what we’ve done so far? What are our goals? What
are we trying to achieve? What do we expect to do for us?’ That kind of
discussion will help us make better decisions.”
By Kimberly Reeves
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