Testing Reform in the News — July 31 – Aug. 7, 2012

Testing Reform Allies:

After reading this week’s installment of clips, remember to take advantage of the many excellent fact sheets, some recently updated, on all facets of assessment reform available for free at http://www.fairtest.org.

They are designed to support your grassroots public education work, including writing letters to the editor about these articles, posting on blogs and communicating with policy makers.

Also, don’t forget to encourage friends, colleagues, and local organizations to sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing:
http://timeoutfromtesting.org/nationalresolution/

Private Firms Eying Profits from Public Schools — note the Common Core testing connection
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-education-investmentbre8710w2-20120802,0,1403754.story

High-Stakes Testing Fixation Hurts Job Market — Texas Workforce Commissioner speaks out
http://www.news-journal.com/news/local/official-state-education-focus-on-standardized-testing-hurts-job-market/article_514b036b-6e8e-5389-8e26-51cc15b6cc7a.html

Scientology-Connected Group Gets NCLB Tutoring Funds
http://www.denverpost.com/investigations/ci_21251288/group-scientology-ties-tutoring-kids-colorado-public-schools

Principals Struggle to be Heard on Real Reform
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/principals-our-struggle-to-be-heard-on-reform/2012/08/06/f459fc74-dff5-11e1-8fc5-a7dcf1fc161d_blog.html

One-Year Test Score Changes Don’t Make a Trend — Aaron Palas is one of the sharpest academic critics of high-stakes policies
http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/06/my-view-one-year-change-in-test-results-doesnt-make-a-trend/

Schools Manipulated Attendance Data to Boost Score Averages
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/08/08/37ohio.h31.html

State Ed. Head Lobbied for Testing Firm
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Watchdog-Ohio-superintendent-improperly-lobbied-3757121.php

Cheating Prevention Yields Lower Scores in Philly
http://articles.philly.com/2012-07-30/news/32924357_1_erasure-patterns-education-ronald-tomalis-pssa-results

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