Reply #5: My daughter is in 3rd grade as well....

[jandrok]

...and they are also teaching to the TAKS prep rather than focusing on real education.

They are not concerned about your daughter. They ARE concerned about getting your daughter to pass the TAKS because it means that they get to keep or increase funding for the school. That's the whole rub about these tests, and it's also why there has been so much widespread cheating on the exams. There have been numerous reports of school districts cheating on the scoring and not following the testing guidelines in order to let students engineer higher grades.

My daughter has done well on the practice tests, so she isn't in danger of not passing. I will inquire about what happens when students are not doing so well on the test prep and see if the tutoring thing is common practice.

I don't really know anyone that likes the TAKS requirement. The teachers don't like it because they have to adapt their entire curriculum around teaching to the test. The parents don't like it because they feel that their children are being shortchanged on their education. The kids don't like it because it stresses them out. 3rd grade is a hell of a time to behavioralize test anxiety.