FairTest in the News

Between expensive test prep, pricey advisors, unethical, and, in this case, downright illegal behavior, ACT and SAT scores are easily “gamed” by those with financial means. To reduce the unfair advantage that people with abundant resources have in our test-reliant admissions system, FairTest leads the national movement for test-optional admissions policies. Today more than 1,000 colleges and universities have test-optional policies that evaluate an applicant's entire portfolio.

FairTest is part of a new Massachusetts coalition with a simple message: It's time for Governor Charlie Baker and the state legislature to make it their number one priority to reinvest $1.5 billion a year in public education, from pre-K through college, with the funding increase not attached to any additional testing.

Our public education system is a key part of what makes Massachusetts a great place to live and work. But testing overkill, combined with austerity school funding, has undermined our schools and our quality of life.

for further information:     

August 21st, 2017 Chandler Smith

Multiple-choice tests are an unfair and inaccurate way to test how much students have learned.

Students sometimes spend hours preparing for a test, placing emphasis on the wrong material, only to realize once the test is in front of them that they studied for all the wrong things. This can happen when the professor places a higher emphasis on the lectures than the reading material, or vice versa, when students expect the opposite.

by Susan Donaldson James

Original Article location: http://diverseeducation.com/article/87965/
 

"[The] refusal to participate in federally mandated testing programs likely represents a turning point in the history of assessment reform in the United States. The next few years will tell, as activists plan to dramatically increase refusals and to win policy changes in the states. Their avowed goals include less testing, an end to high-stakes uses of tests (that is, making decisions about students, educators, or schools solely or primarily on test scores), and implementation of other, educationally sound assessment practices.