Since the TAKS test debuted in 2004, Texas educators, students and parents have complained that the high-stakes exam forces teachers to focus on test preparation. The Texas Education Agency requires public school teachers to spend a significant amount of classroom time working through practice TAKS questions with students as well as other preparatory assignments. Critics suggest this method teaches Texas students test-taking and memorization skills rather than complex, critical thinking. Some instructors also believe the test restricts their freedom to use creative, nontraditional teaching methods.
Texas public school teachers receive bonuses depending on how well their students score on the high-stakes standardized test. TAKS opponents say this encourages teachers to teach test-taking skills and only basic material covered by the exam rather than encouraging students to explore subjects in depth. Funding to schools is also dependent on student performance on the TAKS test. Some critics claim that performance-based funding causes a vicious cycle in which low-scoring schools continue to under perform due to limited financial resources.
Although the TAKS complies with President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, studies suggest that it holds students to different standards than other states. According to the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, the reading and math portions of the TAKS include easier question sets than those of other states. A comparison between select Texas students' scores and a nationally distributed standardized test demonstrates disparity between the levels of difficulty of Texas test compared to national standards.
Some students who consistently perform well on classroom assignments and exams claim that the TAKS rubric causes unfair scoring. The writing portion of the exam has particularly come under fire for punishing students who write essays demonstrating skills beyond their grade level. Some claim the TAKS scoring standards remain too low, allowing students to graduate from high school with substandard ability levels. Other scoring controversies include the distribution of 400,000 incorrect TAKS scores in 2003 caused by errors on the test rubric.