Author: FairTest

As schools close for the summer, testing debates continue to heat up. This week, state requirements to retain students in third grade based on reading exam scores, are back in the spotlight. As renowned education researcher Linda Darling-Hammond concludes in the Alabama story, such politically driven policies have a proven track-record of failure. But they […]

It’s the final days for state legislative sessions and the peak of school testing season in many jurisdictions. So, frustration and anxiety abound, along with a few more assessment reform victories. Please continue sending testing policy updates tofairtest@fairtest.orgso that we can share them nationally. An archive of these weekly newsclip summaries is online at:https://fairtest.org.org/news/other NationalTime […]

Policy elites in Washington, D.C. and many state capitals may have decreed that it will be business-as-usual for standardized exams this year, but hundreds of thousands of parents and educators are responding with a resounding “No way!” Across the country, opt-out numbers are soaring to unprecedented highs and courageous teachers are refusing to play the […]

As states go through the motions to comply with the federal government’s commitment to the spring 2021 testing charade, parents, educators, academic experts, and community leaders are increasingly speaking out about the absurdity of the exercise. At the same time, reports from around the nation indicate that a record-high number of families have chosen to […]

With the spring 2021 “testing for the sake of testing” charade getting underway, many parents are responding by opting their children out of pointless standardized exams. Initial reports indicate record numbers of public school children will not bother sitting for this year’s tests. On New York State’s Long Island, for example, fully half of all […]

Though many public school classrooms remain closed with millions of children still learning remotely, the Spring 2021 “Testing for the Purpose of . . . Testing” season is nevertheless getting underway in many jurisdictions. Not surprisingly, there is strong resistance from parents, teachers and community leaders with huge numbers of families trying to opt out […]

The Biden Administration’s seemingly fickle decisions about standardized exam waivers has resulted in a patchwork quilt of spring 2021 assessment practices. Some states are not administering exams at all this academic year while others are allowing students to opt-out in large numbers without penalties. Elsewhere, particularly in many deep south and plains states, testing season […]

School testing season is underway in many jurisdictions, but a record number of families are refusing to participate in pointless games dictated by inside-the-DC-Beltway politicians and ideologues. The breadth and depth of pushback by parents, teachers, and policy makers at the state and local levels is unprecedented as opt-out movements rapidly expand across the nation. […]

From organizing broad test opt-out campaigns to lobbying for the suspension of high-stakes consequences from test scores, students, parents, teachers and community leaders are forcing policy makes to admit that standardized exams administered this year to comply with politically motivated federal mandates will not be fair, valid or educationally sound. The range of effective strategies […]

Pressed by grassroots activists and educators, states are pushing back against the Biden Administration’s stubborn refusal to allow schools to suspend standardized exams this spring. Several have already won waivers allowing them to cut back time devoted to testing and eliminate consequences for test results. Many have lifted their own high-stakes assessment requirements. More advocacy […]