Failing Our Children Calls for NCLB Alternative
Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing A new, 170-page FairTest report on the first two years of “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) implementation finds that educational quality and equity have been damaged because of the law’s incorrect assumptions and arbitrary requirements. In addition to critiquing NCLB, Failing Our Children outlines a fundamentally different approach to assessment […]
Exit Exam Update: WA, TX, CA, AZ, MA
Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing Battles over high school graduation tests continue to make news across the nation. Washington state delayed its math test requirement even as the whole graduation testing plan continues to be challenged; Texas may drop its current exams; California students and educators continue to battle for changes; an effort to obtain […]
Education Equity Campaign Seeks Major Changes in NCLB
Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing The Campaign for Educational Equity (CEE) has joined the growing list of groups calling for fundamental change to the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law when it comes up for reauthorization. A new CEE report, Opportunity Knocks, looks at NCLB’s shortcomings and how to fix them through the lens […]
Civil Rights, Disability Orgs. Call for "Multiple Measures" in "No Child" Overhaul Legislation
for further information: Dr. Hilda Crespo (ASPIRA) – 202-835-3600, Ext. 114 Dr. LaRuth Gray (NABSE) – 212-998-5137 or 212-998-5105 Dr. Deborah Ziegler (CEC) – 703-264-9406 Dr. Monty Neill (FairTest) – (857) 350-8207 for immediate release Tuesday, August 7, 2007 Nearly two dozen major civil rights and disability advocacy groups today called on Congress to include […]
High Stakes Push States to Game the System
Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing FairTest Examiner, November 2009 Over the years, state assessment systems have repeatedly demonstrated the relevance of “Campbell’s Law” to high-stakes testing and education. Social scientist Donald Campbell concluded: “The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the […]
Chicago Reforms Provide Lessons to Nation, NCLB
Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing The past 15 years of school reform in Chicago provide a cautionary tale for the nation as the consequences of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) begin to take hold, according to a new report. Chicago has experienced first-hand the negative effects of many of NCLB’s dominant strategies: […]
Changes in Pennsylvania
Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing The Pennsylvania Board of Education officially told the state’s House Education Committee that it has no plans to implement a high school exit-exam. The Board said it made a conscious decision not to pursue a high-stakes graduation testing policy similar to those adopted in more than 20 other states due […]
California: Rewards by Chance
Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing A study done by the Orange County Register uncovered a large margin of error on California’s test-based Academic Performance Index (API), used to dole out bonuses and sanctions. Calling the API “riddled with flaws,” the paper concluded the state really did not know if the schools receiving cash awards deserved […]
Assessment Experts Call for NCLB Overhaul
Status: Archived Subject: K-12 Testing FairTest Examiner – July 2007 A panel of nine nationally recognized experts convened by the Forum on Educational Accountability (FEA) has proposed an assessment reform road map for lawmakers now focused on rewriting the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. The Expert Panel on Assessment and Accountability released its […]
Accountability in Higher Ed
Status: Archived Subject: K-16 Testing Over the past few years, accountability issues have surfaced in higher education, much as they did in the 1980s in K-12 public schooling. Chris Gallagher argues that many of the people who brought high-stakes standardized testing to prominence as the key accountability ‘reform’ in public schools are behind the current […]