Since the implementation of the STAAR test, students have increasingly struggled with the content. The English test specifically includes material and content for which students have little to no background knowledge that would otherwise help their understanding. For example, one passage in the released test indicated that a character "stopped to smell the roses." When a group of high school students were asked if they had 1) ever heard this saying and 2) knew what it meant, only ONE student out of nearly 130 said he knew of the saying yet ZERO could explain the nonliteral meaning. The curriculum does not include enough rigorous material in which students could obtain this type of knowledge, has moved away from content that would help prepare them for college or real world careers, and instead only teaches to the test. When 40 or more days of instructional time are merely devoted to taking a practice STAAR test and/or mastering test taking strategies so students can simply learn how to outsmart and pass the test, what kind of education are Texas students really receiving? Secondly, it is absolutely APPALLING to find out that Pearson hires people from Craigslist to work for $12 per hour to score the STAAR essays from the English tests as long as they have a bachelors degree. Pearson trains these people in a matter of days and then relies on THEM to grade these essays??? TEACHERS MUST HAVE A DEGREE PLUS CERTIFICATION AND BE CONSIDERED HIGHLY QUALIFIED IN ORDER TO TEACH OUR KIDS YET THIS COMPANY CAN HIRE AN AVERAGE JOE TO GRADE AN ESSAY???? It is difficult to believe that the Public Education Committee agrees with and relies on this process to determine whether a student has written a good essay or not instead of trusting the opinion of the teacher who works with them on a daily basis. This is a serious issue that has extreme implications for Texas students and therefore, is a justified reason of why the STAAR tests should not be a graduation requirement. The scores are seriously flawed just from the process that is used for grading! These students are supposed to be our future generation, our leaders, world changers, yet when the focus of their learning is a TEST, it is no wonder our nation is falling behind others at a very fast pace in the realm of literacy and intelligence. Give control back to the teachers to allow them to truly teach our kids. Enable them to prepare our sons and daughters to be successful college students, business professionals and community leaders. So many of our students get discouraged when they fail these tests as a freshman and then they give up because they do not feel they can meet the requirements needed to graduate - all because they can't pass some tests. Allow the teachers to teach them. Allow the teachers to assess them on their knowledge and improvement. Do not allow a test to be the single factor that defines the future of Texas students, including whether or not they deserve to receive a diploma.