Eduardo Calderon|Staff Writer
EOC testing is set to begin this year as it is introduced to Johnson freshmen.
“Freshmen this year, and any student entering after this year will have to take the EOC,” principal John Mehlbrech said.
The EOC is replacing the test that many students are familiar with.
“The sophomore class is the last class with TAKS,” Mehlbrech said, “TAKS is no longer the required test.”
Freshmen are already beginning to understand the difference between the TAKS and EOC.
“I don’t think it’s fair that our freshmen year should be taking this hard test,” freshmen Daniel Fariss said, “The EOC’s are for a lot more classes than the TAKS test, pretty much all subjects.”
Teacher’s are finding difficulty with the change in testing.
“The work is more rigorous and there is less time to teach,” Biology teacher Allison Proffitt said.
Compared to TAKS, the EOC is more specific on the topic being tested.
“TAKS doesn’t test information just from the subject,” Mehlbrech said, “The EOC is tied more to the teaching, and is more subject related.”
The EOC will help students be prepared for future schooling.
“TAKS did a great job moving up struggling students, but did not increase rigor for upper, higher achieving students,” Mehlbrech said, “The EOC is more rigorous, that is a college standard that will better prepare students for college.”
The EOC will have similarities to the TAKS but there are still items that are not known.
“We haven’t seen the test, there will be a multiple choice part, and open-ended response questions, but there’s a lot of unknowns,” Mehlbrech said, “There are sample questions available online.”
For freshmen, the EOC will count as 15% of their final grade average.
“Not to sure on the exact reason, but state legislatures pass a new econobility, I guess they feel to make it more of an important test to become part of their overall grade,” Mehlbrech said.
Although the EOC seems to be a rigorous test, changes in state testing are not unusual.
“This isn’t the first econobility change, it’s an adjustment period for teachers and students to relearn,” Mehlbrech said, “We have good people working hard to make it better.”
