Search Results for: node/virginia Schools

Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing Massachusetts More than 120 parent, teacher, and student delegates from across Massachusetts gathered at the first statewide convention of the Coalition for Authentic Reform in Education, (CARE), the grassroots organization formed to end the use of the state’s MCAS exams to determine high-school graduation. Delegates agreed to adopt a formal […]

Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing Recent reports from diverse sources reach similar conclusions about shortcomings of the “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) law and the need for dramatic and fundamental change. These reports could influence the reauthorization of NCLB, scheduled for 2007 but increasingly seen in political circles as not likely until 2009. A report […]

Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing FairTest Examiner – January 2008 As the No Child Left Behind goal of 100% proficiency by 2014 draws closer, predictions of massive school failures are coming to pass. As anticipated, the toll is highest in low-income districts, with one-fifth of schools in these communities labeled “in need of improvement” in […]

NOTE: for a PDF formatted version of this fact sheet click here) Independent researchers have found that evaluating and paying teachers for test scores is either damaging or irrelevant to improved learning.* Unfortunately, even evidence of harm does not seem to affect the growing popularity of such schemes. Policymakers, including U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, […]

Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing As a result of the administration of a new city-wide standardized test in Mexico City, parents, teachers, students, researchers and even some members of the national Congress took to the streets of the nation’s capital from August 2 until mid-September, 1996. Four thousand people marched to Los Pinos, the executive […]

Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing A federal appeals court has overruled a trial judge and found the Boston public schools’ use of race as a factor in determining admissions to its exam schools is unconstitutional. As a result, the white plaintiff has been admitted to the city’s prestigious Latin School. Boston school officials have announced […]

Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing A recent report from the pro-standardized testing organization Education Trust confirms that low-income and minority students are “shortchanged on teacher quality.” For example, students in high-poverty schools are more likely to have novice teachers and less likely to have teachers with strong subject-area backgrounds than students in low-poverty schools. Ed […]

What a week! A national poll concludes that a majority of parents are critical of standardized exam overkill; more minority parents, students and educators speak out against test misuse; yet another state’s computerized testing system collapses; and the opt-out movement continues to grow in breadth and depth. No wonder more state and local education policy-makers […]

Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing With great fanfare, President George W. Bush focused the first week of his presidency on a plan to radically increase testing and institute vouchers through a new federal education program. While the voucher scheme is given little chance of passage in Congress, the testing proposals — federally mandated test score […]

FairTest is pleased to announce that well-known testing expert Akil Bello has joined our assessment reform team. He will enhance our capacity to win more victories in rolling back standardized testing misuse and overuse while promoting better forms of assessment. You can now reach Akil at akil@fairtest.org National After Two Decades of Testing Obsession, Scant […]