k-12

 M E D I A   A D V I S O R Y T H U R S D A Y,   J A N U A R Y   1 0 ,   2 0 1 3

By Lisa Guisbond, FairTest

Published by the Answer Sheet, January 16, 2013

for further information:
                        Dr. Monty Neill   (617) 477-9792
                        Bob Schaeffer      (239) 395-6773

for immediate release Monday, January 14, 2013

Show your support for the teachers’ boycott of the MAP tests.

The teachers have set up a petition, which you can sign at

https://www.change.org/petitions/seattle-public-schools-support-garfield-high-school-teachers-refusing-to-administer-the-map?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=url_share&utm_campaign=url_share_before_sign

A boycott by Seattle teachers of district mandated Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests has drawn support from educators, parents and students across the country. Teachers said they refused to administer the tests because they cover material they are not expected to teach, they take too much time away from learning, especially for struggling students, and giving the MAP tests ties up computer labs for weeks. FairTest supports these teachers and others who are taking a stand against testing overuse and misuse.

1. Sign yourself and persuade your local school board and community organizations to endorse the National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing. It is on the web at: http://timeoutfromtesting.org/nationalresolution/. Also:
   a)    Endorse the Joint Organizational Statement on NCLB.
   b)    Use NCLB overhaul recommendations of Forum on Educational Accountability (FEA).

FairTest submitted  written testimony on how high-stakes connects testing with punitive discipline and the school-to-prison pipeline, to the subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights of the Senate Committee on the

“Value Added” Instability

In “On the Stability (or not) of Being Irreplaceable,”  researcher Bruce Baker excoriates a report from The New Teacher Project that labels teachers whose “value added” scores place them in the top 20% as “irreplaceables.”

To win federal Race to the Top grants or waivers from No Child Left Behind, most states have adopted teacher and principal evaluation systems based largely on student test scores. Many educators have resisted these unproven policies. Researchers from 16 Chicago-area universities and more than 1,500 New York state principals signed statements against such practices. Chicago teachers even struck over this issue, among others. Here’s why these systems-- including “value added” (VAM) or “growth” measures -- are not effective or fair.