New From FairTest

FairTest Examiner, September 2011

Over the summer, FairTest has produced a variety of fact sheets and op-eds and articles. These include a new website page with information on the growing movement of parents to opt their children out of testing, a new page on teacher evaluation, materials on the mushrooming cheating scandals, and new pieces linking the “school to prison pipeline” to high-stakes testing. 

To stay on top of our work, be sure to visit our website regularly, and join our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/FairTest/18387767859.

• Activists around the nation are working to encourage parents and student to “opt out of standardized testing” as a means to counter the over-use and misuse of tests. For links to websites and Facebook pages, see http://www.fairtest.org/get-involved/opting-out. 
• Using student test scores to judge teachers and administrators is a dangerous idea. For articles explaining why, see our new website page at http://www.fairtest.org/k-12/teachers.
• The Atlanta cheating scandal enabled FairTest to bring to wider public attention the more dangerous problem is the way high-stakes testing cheats students out of a good education. See Tests, Cheating and Educational Corruption http://www.fairtest.org/fact-sheet-tests-cheating-and-educational-corrupti and two FairTest op eds on the Atlanta scandal http://www.fairtest.org/fairtest-atlanta-cheating-scandal.
• FairTest joined other organizations in a June 16 Congressional briefing on the “school-to-prison pipeline.” See our joint paper at http://www.fairtest.org/position-paper-nclb-and-school-prison-pipeline.