Many states are beginning to review their assessment and accountability systems to comply with the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Input from grassroots stakeholders -- particularly parents, educators and community leaders -- can help determine whether the revised policies help improve learning and teaching or simply put a different gloss on failed test-and-punish systems.
Welcome! This page lists standardized test resistance, refusal and reform actions and events by state. These include opting out, public forums and meetings, rallies, news conferences, legislative action days, and more.
If you have an action or event to share, let us know at fairtest@fairtest.org and we will post it here.
You can use the hashtags #resistthetests and #optout2016 to post your actions on Facebook and Twitter.
"[The] refusal to participate in federally mandated testing programs likely represents a turning point in the history of assessment reform in the United States. The next few years will tell, as activists plan to dramatically increase refusals and to win policy changes in the states. Their avowed goals include less testing, an end to high-stakes uses of tests (that is, making decisions about students, educators, or schools solely or primarily on test scores), and implementation of other, educationally sound assessment practices.
Lots of stories this week demonstrating the impact of opting out and other effective protests against standardized exam overkill. Please continue to support the testing resistance and reform movement through your own grassroots work and by making a contribution to FairTest at: