Author: FairTest

for further information:Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773Cell (239) 699-0468 for use with annual ACT score release — 12:01am Wednesday, August 15, 2007 A focus on minor year-to-year variations in ACT scores is “a smokescreen designed to divert attention from the flaws of the test and the rapidly growing number of colleges that do not require applicants […]

The Assessment Reform Network was formed at FairTest to support and enhance efforts by parents, teachers, students, civil rights groups and others to prevent and end the harmful use of standardized tests in public education, and to promote the use of authentic assessments in the classroom, district and state level. The goal of the network […]

Education reform today is being increasingly defined as the imposition of “standards” from afar followed simultaneously by standardized multiple choice tests that carry consequences for failure to children, schools, teachers and communities. These tests are referred to as “high stakes” tests. As this “education reform” rises up in state after state, so also do networks […]

The following is a summary of an interview with Meredith Scrivner of Advocates for Education of Whitefish Bay, Inc. Wisconsin, (AFE). Growing out of a successful community organizing effort to pass a school finance referendum, AFE became active at the local and state level on several education policy issues. When Wisconsin Governor Thommy Thompson proposed […]

PURE’s Mission, Programs, and Populations served Parents United for Responsible Education exists to build support for and enhance the quality of public education in the city of Chicago by informing parents about educational issues, bringing the views of parents into the decision making process, and acting as an advocate for parents in their relationships with […]

These Stories in Assessment Reform provide a closer look at how school reform activists in various locations have made the case against harmful testing policies and built local and statewide grassroots campaigns to change them. You can learn their strategies, read and use sample materials, and grasp a better idea of how different tactics have […]

The main captions are things you probably will need to think about; the bulleted points are examples of things you might consider/address/do. Identify the problem:– High Stakes for students or schools/educators [note federal law]– Impact of testing on curriculum and instruction– Unequal/inadequate resources despite high-stakes demands– Too much testing (too many tests, too many grades) […]

(c) Robert Schaeffer, Public Policy Communications, 1988 I. Determine if topic is worth a news conference or if a news release is sufficient A. Are you clear about goals, audience(s) and message?B. Do you have a visual component for TV (e.g. backdrop,graphics) and/or sound for radio?C. Is there sufficient time to organize event coverage?D. Does […]

“Without local activists pushing the media, it wou1d have been impossible to defeat exteemist attacks on thr environment in the guise of ‘regulatory reform.’ Grassroots efforts resulted in editorials in key Congressional Districts denouncing the Congressional rollbacks. Those editorials gave us powerful evidence in keeping ‘Takings’ legislation off the Senate floor in 1995.” – Gary […]

A successful effort on your part to interest a news organization in a story will almost always present you with the opportunity to provide someone for the reporter to interview. From the point of view of reporters and editors, your story suggestion or your news release are the starting points of the story. They advance […]