Carolyn Heinrich has it spot on. Texans often fancy themselves as being from the best state with the best of everything, but in terms of educational achievement, we’re falling short while leading the way in the taking of tests.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/03/26/guest-column/

Henrich’s essay in the Texas Tribune lays out some findings about the plethora of tests our public educators demand of our students. Her findings are rather grim. Texas still doesn’t rank very well in achievement. But we sure know how to administer tests.

Is this the kind of thing ol’ H. Ross Perot had in mind when he led the commission that carried his name toward some new educational reforms back in the 1980s? I rather doubt it.

You might remember the Dallas gazillionaire’s demand that the state should concentrate on educating students better in the classroom and worry less about whether we’re producing blue-chip football players. He popped off around 1983 about the lack of achievement. Then-Gov. Mark White called him out and said, in effect, “OK, Ross, I will appoint you chairman of a blue-ribbon commission to come up with educational reforms. Are you game?” Perot accepted the challenge.

The Perot Commission produced a comprehensive reform package, which Perot himself then pitched to civic groups, media representatives and educators all across the state. I saw him deliver one such sales job in Beaumont. He was impressive.

The Legislature then convened a special session in 1984 and approved House Bill 72, which laid out all kinds of new restrictions and procedures. They included a whole range of tests.

How have they worked? Not too well, according to Henrich.

“We have over-invested in testing (as if it was some kind of ‘magic bullet’) and under-invested in other tools for educational improvement,” she writes. Indeed, teachers hate all the tests. Parents don’t like them either. Students? Well, they do what they’re told.

I don’t disagree with the need to have standards that all kids must meet, but we’ve become addicted to the tests, assuming that the good test-takers are going to excel academically. The results say something else.

Maybe we need yet another blue-ribbon commission to fix the remedy.