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Apr 28, 2008 4:16 pm US/Central
TAKS Anxiety Rattling Some Students
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
Students all over Texas begin taking the TAKS test tomorrow, and that could mean a very stressful week for kids and families.
TAKS is an acronym for Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. It's a state-required assessment of what students know. Students are tested in reading, writing, English language arts, math, science and social studies. All public school students in Texas take some form of the test each year from third to 11th grades.
Program guidelines say students must pass the test in order to advance to the next grade level, but many students advance despite failing scores. Click here to learn why.
But an increasing number of students, parents and teachers say the high stakes test has generated too much stress for children and teens.
In the reading portion of the TAKS, students read passages and then answer questions about what they have read.
These questions appeared on a high school version of the TAKS several years ago:
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From "In Search of Eels," by Elisavietta Ritchie, students read 72 passages, including the following paragraphs:
"We're crossing the Potomac River now, Daddy. Ahead are the Kennedy Center and Watergate, and to the right-can you see the Washington Monument? Remember when we climbed up there, ignored the elevator? And the Smithsonian Museum-how many rainy Saturdays did we spend in museums?
He doesn't say much to my running travelogue, but seems to be staring out the car window and taking in at least something of a scene he used to know well.
Test Question: In the second paragraph, the word travelogue refers to
(A) Motor
(B) Thought
(C) Commentary
(D) Movie The correct answer is C.
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From "Living an Adventurous Life", by Nancy Mairs, read the following paragraph:
I refine adventure, make it smaller and smaller. And now, whether I am feeding fish flakes to my betas or crawling across the dining room helping my cat Burton look for his blind snake, lying wide-eyed in the dark battling yet another bout of depression, cooking a chicken, gathering flowers from the garden at the farm, meeting a friend for lunch, I am always having the adventures that are mine to have.
Question:
Refine (v) 1. to elevate 2. to remove more imperfections 3. to cultivate 4. to alter by polishing or reducing
Which definition best matches the use of the word refine in the passage above?
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On the math part of the TAKS, students must solve problems to find the correct answer. This question appeared on the TAKS several years ago:
A basketball player made 12 free throws in his last 36 attempts. How many free throws would the basketball player be expected to make in 78 attempts? (A) 20
(B) 26
(C) 52
(D) 234
The correct answer is B.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________On the math part of the TAKS, students must solve problems to find the correct answer. This question appeared on the TAKS several years ago:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________On the math part of the TAKS, students must solve problems to find the correct answer. This question appeared on the TAKS several years ago:
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