Six Things Parents Should Know About the TAKS - Texas

Welcome!Sign InMy School List (0)

Article Tools

Print This Article

Email This Article

Sign-up For Newsletters

See full library of articles

Six Things Parents Should Know About the TAKS

Texas was one of the first states to implement a statewide test, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS).

By GreatSchools Staff

Texas implemented the statewide test, TAKS, in 2003.

Related links

Every summer, the Texas Education Agency releases the TAKS tests and answer keys for the tests that were given in the spring of that year. See the tests for grades 3 through 10 and the high school exit exam here.

The Texas Accountability Ratings, a statewide school rating system implemented in 2004, are based on TAKS results.

1. Students in grades 3 through 11 take the TAKS each spring.
TAKS measures student performance in statewide curriculum in reading in grades 3 through 9; in writing in grades 4 and 7; in English language arts in grades 10 and 11; in math in grades 3 through 11; in science in grades 5, 8, 10 and 11; and in social studies in grades 8, 10 and 11.

2. Passing the Exit Level TAKS in high school is a requirement for graduation.
As of 2005, students must pass the Exit Level TAKS to get their diplomas. The test covers four subject areas: English language arts, social studies, math and science. Students first take the Exit Level TAKS in the spring of the 11th grade and have several chances to pass if they fail in one or all of the subject areas. A Student Guide to Graduation from the Texas Education Agency explains the requirements. (This link is a PDF file, which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download it for free here.)

3. Passing the TAKS is a requirement for promotion to grades 4 and 6.
Grade 3 students who do not pass the grade 3 TAKS in reading will not be promoted to the next grade level. Students have three opportunities to take the test: in March, April and July, and they receive remedial help if they do not pass. If a student is retained, parents can appeal to a grade-placement committee at the local school. As of the 2004-2005 school year, grade 5 students were required to pass the TAKS in reading and math to be promoted to sixth grade. Beginning in 2007-2008, grade 8 students will be required to pass the grade 8 TAKS to be promoted to ninth grade.

4. Students classified as limited English proficient follow a slightly different path.
Students identified as limited English proficient (LEP) are permitted to take the TAKS in Spanish for up to three years. After that, those who are not ready to take the TAKS in English work closely with a grade-placement committee consisting of the school principal, their teacher and a parent to get on track.

In 2005 Texas initiated Linguistically Accommodated Testing (LAT), which allows some students to take the math TAKS with language help. LAT applies only to students enrolled in grades 3 through 10 who are classified as exempt from the TAKS on the basis of limited English proficiency. Linguistic accommodations vary and can include the use of bilingual dictionaries to find definitions of difficult words, and reading assistance, in which test administrators read aloud words or sentences from the test.

5. The TAKS tests the skills outlined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) learning standards.
In 1998 the Texas Education Agency implemented these learning standards for each grade. The standards outline what students should learn in every grade in Texas. TAKS tests are designed to test the grade-level skills outlined in the standards.

6. Some special education students take the State-Developed Alternative Assessment (SDAA) instead of the TAKS.
Students enrolled in special education programs and students for whom the TAKS is deemed inappropriate take the alternative assessment. Qualified students take the version of the test that best fits their learning expectations as outlined by their admission, review and dismissal committees (ARD). The alternative assessment tests students in reading, writing and mathematics and is designed to measure annual progress.

Updated July 2006

Comments From GreatSchools.net Users

08/26/2008:

"I think we should get rid of the taks test because our children are spending too much time in school focusing on what is going to be on the test instead of critical thinking and other areas that are going to benefit them later on in life. Obviously the person that wrote in on 5/19/2008 is just pulling everyones leg, come on, just about every word is mispelled, any one who is that illiterate would not even be able to find this page in the first place!"

08/25/2008:

"I have been teaching 5th grade for 23 years. All you have to do is compare fifth grade math scores to higschool math scores to see how by not testing their math fluency levels at the elementary level is killing their chances. Using the same brain research that created the raised expectation in the fisrt place would give anyone enough amunititon to sue I would think. I too can't believe no one has tried before now. If anyone hears of someone wanting to take on the state please pass on my name as someone who would testify or help in any way I can. "

08/19/2008:

"I have successfully completed twelve years of school, but can't pass the Math Exit. I've retaken test five times. Do you have any suggestions?"

08/15/2008:

"Reading the comments on this web site is one of the best justifications I have seen for testing students' abilities to read and write before allowing them to graduate. One person's comments are obviously a farce (5/19/2008), but there are many comments posted here which should receive very low grades when judged by any valid educator. I write â€œshouldâ€� because we all know students turn in such work and still make Aâ€™s and Bâ€™s. Here's an idea, have your child review the postings on this site. If they cannot identify six posts which should receive a failing grade, they need to be held back."

08/15/2008:

07/29/2008:

"Great info but this site needs to be updated. SDAA is no longer a testing option for Special Ed studenrs. "

07/21/2008:

"The TAKS test is given in order to receive federal funding. Now take a moment to look up the word 'pawn' in the dictionary. You will discover that our children are being used as pawns. I'm rather surprised there haven't been lawsuits brought forth against the state of Texas on this matter. I cannot act for other children but I will no longer allow my child to participate in the TAKS test. I will not place him in a private school and I wil not home school him, he will continue to attend a public school and he will not take the TAKS test."

07/7/2008:

"If your child is being bullied at school how long will you allow it to continue? A standardized test is used to test the accountability of the school, not the child! Our children are being penalized for living in Texas and attending a public school. As parents, how long are we going to allow this to continue? RiverSharla@aol.com - let me hear from you directly."

07/7/2008:

"i am a senior graduating in 2009 and i do believe the TAKS test is shit! i have to transfer to a private school to graduate just because of science!!! "

07/3/2008:

"I've decided to homeschool my soon-to-be 7th grader. Although he passed his classes with A's and B's, he didn't pass the TAKS test. It is legal in the state of Texas to homeschool your children. According to the TEA, they do not regulate homeschools. Homeschools are recognized as private schools. In addition, the TAKS test is only a requirement for 'Public Schools' in the state of Texas. You can obtain this information from either the TEA website or from the THSC website at http://www.thsc.org/FAQ/default.asp#1 They are playing political games with our children's education for financial gain. In my opinion, I think this is a sick way to keep our kids from graduating for population control. For instance, if they can control how many students are released from the public schools each year, it would benefit the economy. Just a thought! "

07/2/2008:

"Nice to read a lot of us are in the same boat. My daughter is in 8th grade. She is an excellent student, and finished school with an A/B average. Has trouble with the Math TAKS though and had to take summer school... they even told me it was not an option.. even though other students in the 'special ed' did NOT have to!! It is ridiculous and I'm on board for whatever I need to do to get it changed. It will be very interesting to see if she does not pass next week on the 1st because the school board will definitely hear from me!"

07/1/2008:

"My son is a special needs child that was in an RTC center with a tutor. He was disenrolled and had to leave the school at the hospital. He didn't pass the math portion of the TAKS and so, I just found out about 3 days ago he has to retake the math portion on the TAKS. He has no study material and no one in the Killeen Independent School District seems to be able to give us any advice or is willing to give us any advice."

06/30/2008:

"Despiite the fact that I don't believe TAKS is the 'end all/be all' test, I don't necessarily believe the problem is with having a yearly standardized test. Everybody has some form of overall evaluation in his/her job, so shouldn't we have that same accountability in our schools for our students as well as teachers? The problem, I believe, lies with our eductional system revolving around pleasing parents. Grades should reflect what a child is capable of doing, and, unfortunately, report card grades don't always do that. Many teachers are too scared to tell parents the truth about a child's academic abilities because, quite simply, few parents want to hear that their child is struggling. In ten years of teaching, I have yet to see a child who struggled on the TAKS (or TAAS in the past)who didn't struggle in the classroom as well. Maybe we should focus on raising the expectations/accountibility for our children in their classrooms and homes!"

06/18/2008:

"Both my son and daughter are currently in summer school because they did not pass their TAKS test which they have to pass to be promoted to 6th grade. They both received with a final grade of 90 and 99 in all their classes. Therefore, I think that having the school retained them in 5th grade if they don't pass the TAKS test that they will take in July is very unfair for my kids because they had worked so hard to get good grades in their classes and had always passed their exams, always on time with projects and assignments, but yet because of this ridiculous TAKS test all that hard worked doesn't seem to matter. So I agree with one of the blogger below about Pres. Bush and Gov. Perry (which I have no understanding to why people voted for them in the first place)taking this TAKS test and see if they can pass this test. It's really frustrating because I see my kids study and work so hard and I know others' kids as well and get excited when they get a good grade and at the sam! e time upset because of this test. This TAKS testing should be banned for good. For those who agrees with the TAKS testing, you need to check with your children if they like because I'm sure if they are getting a high score in their classes, they would too be disappointed if they didn't pass the test and have to repeat the same grade all over again, and you yourself would feel what we (those who disagree with this test) the same way. "

06/10/2008:

"My son is currently in summer school because he has not been able to pass his Reading TAKS test which he has to pass to be promoted to 4th grade. He will retake the test in July. He received honors awards for A-B honor roll and he also received accelerated reading award for reading in the 4th grade level. he also particpated in UIL story telling for the first time. He passed the TAKS math test with flying colors. He went to tutorials and I used the TAKS booklet to work with him at home. This has been extremely frustrating because he is a good student. It is also very frustrating to not be able to figure out what he is having problems with since the questions he gets wrong are not in any certain area. The second time he took the test he had a very bad asthma attack so I think anxiety might be playing a part in him not passing. The principal his teacher and my husband and I decided that no matter what happened we would not hold him back."

06/4/2008:

"My son is in 7th grade and did not pass the Reading TAKS this year. The school is now saying they will need to take an elective away for 8th grade so he can concentrate on reading TAKS strategies.He is an A/B student and takes a few preAP classes including Language Arts, Literature,and Texas history. He has a history with the Reading Taks and experiences anxiety. He has passed the Math, and Writing portions no problem.Our previous ISD has accomodations and tested him in a small group setting,and that worked and he passed. I talked to the new school about this several times and no accomodations were made.The teacher told him 'it is pretty sad that an honors student is going to lose an elective,because he can't pass the reading TAKS'! Needless to say I am frustrated with the teacher!!"

06/2/2008:

"If you are an A-B honor roll student, or the parent of one, who has not been able to pass the TAKS test. Please contact me as soon as possible. We are organizing to present to the Education Commission's Select Cmt. on Public School Accountability and would like to help your voice be heard. "

06/2/2008:

"If my child does not pass the math taks test in the 8th grade to go on to the 9th and has already been retained before, what does that mean for my child who will already be two years behind? I relly need to know because my child now wants to quit school, and I am very disappointed about this taks test that is supposed to help my child and instead has now become an enemy to my child. "

06/2/2008:

"The TAKS test should be eliminated. It causes a higher drop-out rate, takes kids' futures away from them and ruins lives. It is an unfair test and the math portion is way too hard. It discriminates against students with learning disabilities, it discriminates against a number of other students as well. It is a part of George Bush's 'No Child Left Behind' program, which is a great big farce. That program leaves plenty of children behind. I bet neither George Bush nor Governor Perry could pass the TAKS test, in fact it would be amusing to see them in 'Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader.' If Perry hadn't been elected governor of the State of Texas, there wouldn't even BE a TAKS test. It's all about state funding and politics and not about giving the students a proper education. Half the school year is taken up with learning how to take the TAKS test and screwing around with teachers' cirriculum. Just how does this help the students? The answer is that it DOESN'T. All it does ! is stress them out and cause them to lose hope. Lets face it, some people on this planet were just not meant to work with numbers, I am one of them. If I had to take the TAKS test when I was in school, I would have had to drop out and would have never been able to go to college. Everybody cannot be mathmeticians, so why force everyone to take a math TAKS test? Why does it have to be so HARD?? My daughter is a Junior in high school and has tried and tried to pass the math portion and just missed it by a few points last time (the state idiots had to raise the standard this year -otherwise she would have passed - by last year's standards). My daughter has struggled with many learning disabilities, including one in math, but has been able to overcome them and do well in school, but math is holding her back. She works much harder than many other students who passed the math portion of the TAKS test. You can't imagine the heartbreak she has been through. We've got her a very good! tutor and we're going to see her through this. The TAKS test should be ruled unconstitutional, it is cruel and unusual punishment. It is torture to students It is a repulsive thing to put them through. The TAKS test needs to be eliminated and let the final exams be the assesments for the students."

06/2/2008:

"There are 5 or 6 opportunities to pass TAKS if you are a Junior. Kids should not be put through this ordeal. TAKS should be considered unconstitutional. TAKS should be eliminated and so should the politians who initialized and supported it."

06/2/2008:

"Im a junior right now and I failed all my TAKS. So if i fail in my seinor year to Will I graduate?"

06/2/2008:

"I graduated in 1993, the year passing TAKS was a requirement. I was an 'A' student and failed math so I did not walk with my class. I passed the test in July with flying colors. Now I have a 4th grader who is struggling to pass this test. I see myself all over again. I am now in the medical profession in which I excell. This test bears no truth to ones possibilities or potential outcomes. This test was originated to Assess Teachers teaching skills as to students outcomes... I agree that we should bound the steps in Austin or boycott our kids showing up to take this test in the future. IT HAS TO STOP!!!!!"

06/2/2008:

"How sad to read (or attempt to read) the feedback on 5/19 from the 'honor' student who didn't pass the TAKS. As a teacher, I find it hard to believe that this student was in honors, or even passing with the lack of writing skills displayed in this feedback. No one is going to give this person a score. He or she is going to have to earn it."

05/30/2008:

"How many opportunities does an 11th grader have to passed the TAKS in order to graduate? "

05/30/2008:

"I'm going to write two words PRIVATE SCHOOL. The private schools do not require TAKS. If someone is at the graduation stage and has not passed the TAKS and you have enough credits to graduate transfer your credits to a private school and get your diploma. "

05/29/2008:

"I have a third grader who passed the reading test but failed the math. we were living in mississippi for the year and just recently moved here at the last make-up tests. the things that were taught here extensively were not done so down there. therefore she was unable to do the math problems on the math tests. i see above that she should be able to pass to the fourth grade. but am not sure iff all the schools and districts allow it. could you please let me know if the PSJA school district allows third graders that do not pass the math portion to lvl up. and if they dont. given my daughters circumstances what we can do to fix it, if anything. if i can fight it if they try to fail her since she didnt actually do the year here, just came in at the end and got tested. again please let me know ASAP. thank you."

05/19/2008:

"I was supose to graduate last year with honors and everything but just because i dident pass my math taks i dident graduate so now i'm having to re take the test i have allready taken it like 10 time and i still cant pass it i just want to start collage allready i had already goten accepted to texas A&M kingsvill but since i dident pass my taks they dident accept me untill i pass it and all i nedded was the math taks and math is not one of my best subjects i struggle alot with it and hellow the taks is not even preparing us for collage all wezr learning is taks objectives my friend who is in collage says that his professor was getting mad at them because they hadent leaerned any thing in highschool like actual reading and math not objectivs for the taks so his proffesor was mad that he dosent under stand enything i wish they would just get rid of the taks it is so stressful i mean i get seizures becaused of it i never fails right before or 3 days before i take the test i get! a seizure and and all the medicin that i'm taking now i blame the people who came up with the TAKS!!! I WISH THEY WOULD JUST GET RID ODF THIS TEST i'm so frusterated i cant take it eny more i just wish that i could just pass it allready and be done with it and go onn to collage."

05/7/2008:

"what happens if my 5th grader fails the TAKS science test in Dallas, Texas schools."

04/29/2008:

"I am a mother of 3. I have a son that is in the 3rd and a daughter that is in the 8th. On behalf of my son he has a learning disability when it comes to reading. My son was held back in the 2nd in which he should be in the 4th. Alot of things fall in this category which is reading and math problems that you have to read a solve. I really feel like when this Taks test took place it has hurt alot of our kids especially when they feel like they worked hard to get to the next grade. On behalf of my daughter I held her back in 2nd grade because she has the same problem as my son. She is now in the 8th in which she should be in the 9th. She still have a hard time and she is not able to past the Taks. And if she don't past she will retain the 8th grade again even though her grades at school is good. At this point my daughter should be in the 10th but she will still in the 8th. This is the worst thing that the state has done to our kids and they aren't making it easier they are mak! ing it harder and harder. That's why our kids feel like they can't do it because of the pressure that the state is putting on them. I can only speak for my kids but they get all the help they can but my kids just have a hard time when it somes to this test. I have put them in special classes at Baylor during the summer to get help everything that is thought of along with the teacher help. I just don't this is is fair to the kids at all. "

04/28/2008:

"WELL ANYWAYZ I HATE THE TAKS TEST BECAUSE IF YOU ARE PASSING ALL YOUR CLASSES YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TO TAKE THE TAKS TEST AND THAT IS WHAT IS STOPPING CHILDREN FOR GRADUATING"