SAN ANTONIO - It's Amanda Deady's first year at Harris Middle School where she's learning the importance of group meetings in what could be considered the battle zone. It's the room where teachers load a board with names and test scores to measure how students are performing in the classroom to prepare them for the STAAR (State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness).
Deady is glad teachers meet weekly to share ideas and find the best solutions for helping a child that might be struggling because of economic factors or issues with school work.
In the data room, Marianne White leads the discussion. The math teacher with 22 years of experience is also a concerned parent. She has two children attending Harris Middle School, which is considered a school for scientific inquiry based on a charter school concept.
White says the data room is the best place for teachers to lay out objectives based on student needs.
Several school districts have been using a data room at all campuses -- many for several years now -- but it's something new in the Edgewood school district. They have dubbed it a "war room" and the district spokesman, Maclovio Perez, considers this new concept an old school approach to teaching.
Perez says teachers talk and collaborate, moving students names around on a board, up or down, to measure how well each one is progressing throughout the year.
Many teachers and parents are stressed about the approaching, mandatory STAAR. Some parents are protesting the test because they feel it's not the best way to determine if a student is passing any grade level.
The test could also have a big impact on the way teachers are graded in the classroom and there are reminders, on the board, in the data room--counting down the days when everyone must be ready to start testing.
