Are Students Not Counted?
Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing A series of Associated Press news articles has spawned a new “urban myth” by claiming that the scores of nearly two million racial minority students are not being reported by their subgroup due to a “loophole” in the No Child Left Behind law, and that states are actively helping districts […]
Principles and Indicators for Student Assessment Systems
National Forum on Assessment Assessment of student learning is undergoing profound change at the same time reforms are taking place in learning goals and content standards, curriculum, instruction, the education of teachers, and the relationships among parents, communities, schools, government, and business. These Principles provide a vision of how to transform assessment systems and practices […]
Digging into Testing Policies
Takeaways: Test Optional is Real Getting admitted to college without a test score (and getting scholarships) is a realistic possiblility. There are colleges at every selectivity level, in every state, that have enrolleda significant portion of their class without test scores having been submitted. This means that for each family, you have a choice whether […]
Interpreting PISA Results: It’s Poverty, Stupid (With a Bit of the iPhone)
The results of PISA 2022 should, like all standardized test results, be filtered through a dose of skepticism about the claims of the test producers and administrators. We must also carefully scrutinize “Chicken Little” claims in the media which is notorious for manufacturing and hyping education crises. Declines in standardized test scores have been the […]
How Testing Feeds the School-to-Prison Pipeline
(note: this fact sheet is available for download as a print-formatted PDF file) Zero tolerance discipline and high-stakes testing policies have similar philosophical underpinnings and similar destructive results. Both stem from a 1980s movement to impose more punitive policies in both criminal justice and public education. Together, they have helped turn schools into hostile environments […]
CEP Reports on Exit Exams
Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing The Center on Education Policy’s (CEP) latest report on the consequences of high-school graduation tests, examining one district each in Virginia and Maryland, provides important evidence on the tests’ extensive educational harm. How Have High School Exit Exams Changed Our Schools relied on interviews and focus groups with students, teachers […]
News from Nebraska and Virginia
Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing In Nebraska, the Attorney General’s office said the state Department of Education could not require testing to measure how well the state’s learning standards are being met, and that a move to mandate the adoption of “voluntary” standards would be unconstitutional. Calling the state’s reading, writing, math, science and social […]
Organizations and Experts Opposed to High Stakes Testing
Test Company Statements against High Stakes: Harcourt Brace on the Stanford 9: about Using their Test to Make Grade Promotion Decisions “Promotion and Retention of Students” *”Another misuse of standardized achievement test scores is making promotion and retention decisions for individual students solely on the basis of these scores. This is an undesirable practice for […]
Testing Protests Expand Across the Nation
Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing Protests against high-stakes exams surged across the country this spring as grassroots groups in a dozen states staged events to voice their opposition to the increased use and misuse of standardized testing in public education. Ranging from small local gatherings to statewide rallies, the events were united by their denunciations […]
Testing Resistance & Reform News: January 10 -16, 2018
As the number of colleges and universities implementing ACT/SAT-optional admissions policies tops 1,000 (https://fairtest.orgdata.com.org/actsat-testoptional-list-tops-1000-colleges-univer), many more state policy makers are getting the message that standardized exams are not needed to assess the educational quality of K-12 students, teachers, or schools. NationalWhat’s Going On with Testing Audits Under ESSA?http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2018/01/answering_essa_questions_testing_audits.htmlNational Please ReadThe Testing Charadehttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/please-read-daniel-koretz-the-testing-charade_us_5a568cb5e4b088f20c39593c AlabamaTest Scores Paint […]