The TAAS demonstrates the poorest way to assess what students know,
especially since it bears directly on teacher performance. Students are
taught the test. This is an unseemly way to measure anyone's performance. As
the art teacher, my job is to get the students to utilize what they have
learned as they express themselves through the arts. Little wonder that many
of my students are singularily uninspired, as they have only learned how to
pass a standardized test. This expands my responsiblilty to pique their
curiousity about how math, history, science and language applies to their
art. The importance of what I do as an art teacher is apparent... the stage
and studio is where we seem to learn everything else that is not tested by
TAAS. Mighty daunting job, wouldn't you say? Peter
