TACHE Plenary Session 12-2-01

Plenary speakers at the 27th TACHE conference. From left to right: Angela Valenzuela, Albert Kauffman, Linda McNeil, and Dora Olivo

Do we want our public schools to be run like Enron?

by Alberto I. Roca, Ph.D. This provocative analogy was described by Linda McNeil, Rice University professor of education, at the 27th annual TACHE conference in Austin. Over the weekend of December 2, 2001, around 100 members of the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education (TACHE) met to discuss issues such as assessing education policies, training future student leaders, and retaining Hispanic faculty. The first topic was the subject of a plenary session entitled "The Impact of the TAAS System of Testing on Underprivileged, Minority Youth: A Latino Educational Policy Perspective". Linda McNeil and Angela Valenzuela (University of Texas associate professor of education and Mexican American studies) both described the effects of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) system of testing on the quality of public education in Texas. Of particular concern was the pressure that high-stakes testing creates among public school administrators to demonstrate "progress" at any cost. McNeil made the analogy to the current Enron scandal. In short, the Enron debacle showed that narrow, quantitative indicators of success (stock price) can be manipulated by administrators to deceitfully hide a failing business. Namely, accountants craftily used different ledgers to separate profits (Enron) from debt (subsidiary companies). However when debts became due, cash-strapped Enron defaulted on its bills. Naive investors quickly realized the folly of their risky gamble. The analogy with Texas public schools is insightful. Has the Texas public been equally duped regarding "successful" schools? Unfortunately the issue at hand is the education of our children which is a treasure that should not be gambled. In a recent article, McNeil and Valenzuela argue that part of the problem is that TAAS test scores are directly tied to administrator's job security (1). There is now pressure to improve test scores by any means. One egregious example is directly related to the Enron scandal. A school's cumulative TAAS pass rate can be artificially inflated by reducing the number of students taking the exam. Thus, the administrators are separating "profit" (test scores) from "debt". Regrettably this debt are those children whose educational needs are not being met. Many of those children are minorities. Thus the Texas "education miracle" is actually predicated on the false god of short-term gains. "Success stars" proudly displayed on an "exemplary" public school do not benefit the children who are dropping out of school or even those who reach college but are ill-equipped to handle rigorous learning experiences. There is a critical need to reevaluate this "accountability" system now. A new TAAS initiative (Senate Bill 4 passed during the 1999 meeting of the legislature) will implement high stakes testing in the third, fifth, and eighth grades. This will drastically impact retention rates. The San Antonio-based Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) estimates that 4,400 children were kept from advancing to the 4th grade in 1996-97. However, IDRA estimates that the figure will rise to over 28,000 after the new standard is implemented where students who fail TAAS will not advance to the 4th grade. The 2002-2003 cohort will encounter comparable promotion "gates" at the 5th and 8th grade levels, in addition to the current and continuing promotion gate at the exit level (the 10th grade exit test will become in 2002-2003 an 11th grade exit test). On the issue of retention, the evidence is very clear (2). Being retained in grade increases a child's probability of dropping out of school by 50 percent. Being retained twice results in a close to 90 percent probability of a child dropping out of school. Unfortunately, the majority of students who fail and drop out are minorities. Thus the Hispanic community is adversely affected by these policies which will reduce the educational well being of our children. Finally, there are other indications that Texas public schools are not improving under the new accountability system (3). In particular, drop out rates are up, graduation rates are down, and Texas cities rank among the lowest in the U.S. in their capacity to graduate their students. More troubling is the fact that TAAS score gains are not confirmed by other indicators of student achievement. For example, while TAAS scores are rising, SAT scores have been declining. Valenzuela wisely calls upon educational institutions to publicize this issue among Hispanic networks such as HACER and the Society of Latino Alumni of Rice (SOLAR) to make students and parents aware of the harmful impact of the TAAS system of testing. Members should then decide upon appropriate methods of advocacy (4). Toward that end, the last two speakers in the TACHE plenary session were the Honorable Dora Olivo (Texas state representative) and Albert Kauffman (lawyer for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund). They described the political process for enacting change. They urged the public to support legislation during the 2003 session that calls for the use of multiple compensatory criteria in the making of high-stakes decisions about children at each of the promotion gates. By "compensatory", they refer to the capacity of low TAAS scores to be offset by other showings of students' cognitive abilities such as grades in core subjects, other test score information, and teacher recommendations. In that manner, true accountability of Texas public education would not be hijacked by a single indicator of performance such as high-stakes testing. Furthermore, Olivo and Kauffman asked the audience to question future candidates for governor and lieutenant governor on their understanding, opinions, and action plans that address these problems. Notably, Tony Sanchez (regent of the University of Texas system) was the TACHE awards banquet keynote speaker. He described his election bid for Texas governor and his passion for addressing the wrongs enacted by previous administrations on issues affecting the education of Hispanic communities. TACHE was established 28 years ago as a networking and advocacy organization for educators and administrators in Texas. Its mission is to improve the educational and employment opportunities for Hispanics in higher education. The organization was founded by the pioneer Mexican-Americans of the social movements of the 1970's. However membership is open to all concerned about Hispanics in higher education. For example, the TACHE president-elect, Ana Guzman, is of Cuban descent. Professor Guzman is the president of Palo Alto College. Her successful career path reflects the growing influence of Latinas in positions of power. (The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of HACER or of Rice University. The author thanks the Rice University Office of Educational Outreach for financial support to attend the TACHE conference.) 1. L. McNeil and A. Valenzuela, "The harmful impact of the TAAS system of testing in Texas: beneath the accountability rhetoric" in Raising Standards or Raising Barriers? Inequality and High Stakes Testing in Public Education, edited by G. Orfield and M. Kornhaber; Harvard Civil Rights Project, 2000. text available at: www.law.harvard.edu/groups/civilrights/conferences/testing98/drafts/mcneil_valenzuela.html 2. Data are available from Intercultural Development Research Association. 2001. Retention in grade: policy brief update. San Antonio, Texas; 1999. Failing our children: finding alternatives to in-grade retention. Policy Brief. San Antonio, Texas, www.IDRA.org/Research/ingrade.htm#Ingrade 3. Data are available from both (a) W. Haney, "The Myth of the Texas Miracle in Education", epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v8n41, 2000; and (b) the Rice University Center for Education, www.rice.edu/education 4. In Texas there are two citizens groups promoting TAAS reform: Texans for Quality Assessment (www.texastesting.org) and Parents United to Reform TAAS Testing (www.taasblues.com). The citation for this article is: A.I.Roca, "Do we want our public schools to be run like Enron?" El Tecolote April 22, 2002