Author: FairTest

Two big stories dominate this week’s testing news: a much-awaited reconsideration of the “massive COVID learning loss” narrative and the accelerating of the test-optional admissions movement in higher education.  In many states, assessment reform campaigns continue to make progress. National U.S. Ed. Sec. Warns States Don’t Use Test Results Punitively https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/dont-use-state-tests-punitively-ed-secretary-cardona-warns/2022/09National A Measured Look at COVID’s Real Impact […]

Standardized testing policies, particularly at the K-12 level, are generally developed by elected officials or their appointees. The seven weeks remaining before Election Day on November 8 should present many opportunities to press candidates to reveal their positions on critical assessment reform issues.  Do they support even more testing or a rollback of standardized exam […]

In the interview, Feder emphasizes the importance of building and supporting the education professionals on the ground, not monitoring them. FairTest would like the collective lesson we learn from Covid is that students don’t need more tests; they need teachers supporting them. But, the collective takeaway from the NAEP data could just as easily cause […]

Harry Feder, FairTest’s new Executive Director, explains the organization’s expanded initiative promoting assessments that support equity and excellence, concluding: “If the pandemic taught us anything, it is that kids need school for a whole host of intellectual and social reasons. Standardized testing is not one of them.”  https://fairtest.org/assessment-for-equity-and-excellence/National One-Size-Fits-All Metrics for Evaluating Schools Must Gohttps://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/09/09/schools-accountability-faulty-metrics/Florida Teachers Helped Students Cheat on Exams […]

Read the Higher Ed Dive article with comments by FairTest staff on the lack of validity and problematic nature of the U.S. News and World Report college rankings. https://www.highereddive.com/news/us-news-rankings-dont-ding-colleges-for-lacking-sat-and-act-data-in-nod/631676/

With Labor Day in the rear-view mirror, most U.S. public schools are back in session.  Rather than trying to meet the full range of students’ COVID-era academic, social and psychological needs, many are focused on administering new rounds of standardized exams and analyzing scores.  That makes this a perfect time for assessment reformers to remind […]

Harry Feder, a public-school teacher and attorney who is an expert in performance assessment, is the new Executive Director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest). Feder previously taught history at the Beacon School in New York City, a member of the New York State Performance Assessment Consortium for which he also did legal work. He […]

LONGTIME PUBLIC SCHOOLEDUCATOR AND ATTORNEY IS PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT EXPERT; AKIL BELLO, ILANA SPIEGEL & BOB SCHAEFFER CONTINUE AS STAFF Harry Feder, a public-school teacher and attorney who is an expert in performanceassessment, is the new Executive Director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing(FairTest). Feder previously taught history at the Beacon School in […]

Assessment policies have long been heavily influenced by ideologues from across the political spectrum — the support of “No Child Left Behind” by groups like the so-called Democrats for Education Reform and Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Educational Excellence is just one example. In the current climate of ultra-politicized debates, however, standardized testing has become a […]

Public school classrooms in half a dozen states have recently opened for 2022-2023. Already, conflicts have arisen around testing requirements for students and educators. It’s also election season at the federal, state and local levels, meaning politicians will now be a bit more responsive to constituent concerns. Let’s make this a year in which grassroots […]