Smoke and Miracles; Who Really Benefits in the Accountability System?

Texas Observer, The › July 29, 2009

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Summary

In particular, [Rick Perry] has dwelt on [Shirley Neeley]'s achievements as superintendent of Galena Park ISD. In nine years, in a district that is mostly minority and poor, Neeley almost doubled her students' scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) exam that was the center of the state's accountability system. (The TAAS was replaced by the more difficult Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) exam last spring.) As told by the governor's press office, Neeley's story is a fable for the accountability age. And indeed it is, but the deeper you look into the numbers behind it, the more troubling this fable's moral becomes.

So the district, under Neeley's leadership, set out to do what TAAS critics identify as the ultimate sin of standardized testing--they began teaching to the test. At Neeley's prompting, teachers devoted the first 10 minutes of every class, in every grade, for every subject--including band, art, and PE--to TAAS exercises. Special test prep classes replaced extracurricular sessions for students who failed the TAAS on their first attempt. Even the birthday cards Neeley sent to every teacher and principal in the district read "Think Exemplary." Neeley also issued an ultimatum: Principals had three years to win their schools an accountability rating of at least "recognized"--awarded when 80 percent of students in all racial and economic groups passed all parts of the TAAS. Principals who didn't meet the deadline were demoted or fired.

Galena Park's SAT scores reveal a troubling achievement gap between racial groups that doesn't show up immediately in the district's TAAS and TAKS scores. In 1996, Hispanic students had an average SAT score of 960; their average score has fallen almost continuously since. In 2002, the average score was 841. The average score of Galena Park's black students drifted down from 950 in 1996 to 854 in 2002. The district's white students lost the least ground, going from an average score of 1094 in 1996 to 1008 in 2002. And while scores have been in a slide for the whole state, Galena Park student scores are dropping faster than most. In 1996, all the district's student groups outscored their peers statewide by 50 points or more. In 2002, only Galena Park's black students scored higher--by 15 points--than their peers state-wide. (In 1996, they outscored their state peers by almost 100 points.)