Testing Resistance & Reform News: June 13-19, 2013

The ever-growing movement of parents, students, teachers and researchers resisting high-stakes testing is finally being heard by some politicians: the week after Gov. Rick Perry signed legislation rolling back testing in Texas, New York City mayoral candidates agree that there are too many 'standardized exams, and even U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has agreed to postpone some of the Obama Administration's most damaging high-stakes testing mandates. 

Of course, there's much more to be done . . . and won.  Keep escalating the pressure! 

More Virginia Families Boycott Standards of Learning Tests 
     http://www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013306140025&gcheck=1 

New Jersey Parents Promote Test Overhaul Through Petition and Opt Outs 
     http://kids.baristanet.com/2013/06/montclair-parents-wanting-education-reform-through-petitions-and-opt-outs/     

NYC Mayoral Candidates Want to Limit Standardized Exams 
     http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/democratic-mayoral-candidates-limit-standardized-tests-article-1.1372585?localLinksEnabled=false 

Chicago Parents Students Say Charter Schools Used Selective Expulsions to Boost Test Score Averages  
     http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130611/chicago/parents-students-charge-charter-schools-with-targeted-expulsions 

Tide Turns Against Test-Driven "Reforms" in Indiana 
     http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130609/EDIT10/306099980/1021/EDIT 

Errors Bedevil Testing Companies  
     http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130616/BIZ/306169966/1031/BIZ 

Perry Extends Texas Testing Rollback      
     http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/17/19008055-texas-rolls-back-student-testing-for-a-second-time 

Texas Governor Vetoes Bill Cutting Interim Tests and Requiring Validity Study After Signing Limits on End-of-Course Exams 
     http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2013/06/commentary-did-rick-perry-veto-fathers-day/ 

Number of Texas Tests Still Too High 
     http://www.kutnews.org/post/hb-5-passes-number-high-stakes-tests-still-high 

Great Teachers Are Another Casualty of Excessive Testing  
     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elaine-weiss/another-casualty-of-exces_b_3443554.html 

Encourage Your Colleagues, Family and Friends to Sign the National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing 
     http://timeoutfromtesting.org/nationalresolution/ 

Duncan Will Support One-Year Delay for States to Evaluate Teachers by Student Test Scores 
     http://seattletimes.com/html/politics/2021215479_apusnochildleftbehind.html     

What Do Standardized Tests Really Tell Us? 
     http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/telling-time-broken-clock 

Test Score Deception Boosts Ed "Reform" -- Lessons From Massachusetts
     http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/13/how-test-scores-can-be-deceiving/ 

Ed "Reform" Leaders' Assumptions Falling Apart 
     http://www.ctpost.com/opinion/article/Assumptions-of-education-reformers-falling-apart-4599145.php 

Interview with Author of "No Child Held Back" 
     http://educationviews.org/an-interview-with-yovel-badash-standardized-testing-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly-and-the-rest-of-the-story/     

Teachers Letters to Bill Gates About the Failure of Corporate-Driven School Policies 
     http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/14/teachers-letters-to-bill-gates/