Katy ISD trustee represents at TASB

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The school board of Texas school boards has a new local representative and he's on a mission to fix the problem of standardized testing. Katy ISD Trustee Henry Dibrell will be attending his first meeting of the Texas Association of School Boards as a board member, this month.

"TASB is all of the school boards in Texas working together," Dibrell tells Fox26.

Dibrell says serving on the TASB board is a unique opportunity to share with districts across the state what is working at Katy ISD, and learn what's working at other districts, that Katy ISD could do better. There will always be many issues that come before the TASB board, but this year a serious issue to be addressed is the controversial STAAR test.

"We need to do something about this assesment," Dibrell says. "We don't need to totally get rid of it, but we need to find something that works for every child in the state of Texas."

Problems with the STAAR test were so numerous this past school year, Dibrell says the Texas Education Commissioner wiped out all the scores.

The Texas legislature is in session this year, so there's an opportunity to make major reforms.

"We need to stop having 3rd graders sit down for 4 hours ever day for entire week forcing them to take some type of test," Dibrell says.

Dibrell believes in accountability but feels the STAAR test is over reaching. He opposes using the STAAR test for teacher assesment, and opposes giving the same test to students in special education.

"What purpose is it doing to test a child who we know will not pass the test because of their special needs?" he asks. "We need to test them on what they're learning. What can we teach them so that they can have the highest quality of life possible?"

The reforms are up to the legisalature, but Dibrell says when all of the school districts speak through TASB as one voice, lawmakers have to listen.

Meanwhile, Dibrell is listening too. He says he'll be posting information on his social media pages, and reporting back to his fellow Katy ISD board members about TASB activities during public meetings.