Testing Resistance & Reform News: March 13 -19, 2019

Not surprisingly, the huge, national college admissions scandal — with a major testing component — dominated this week’s education news. The fact that so many other stories about standardized exams also appeared attests to the power of parents, educators and activists in making assessment reform a powerful issue.

Florida Students Get More Time for Test Prep, Not Learning
https://www.ocala.com/news/20190311/this-year-many-students-get-more-time-for-test-prep

Illinois Does “More Than a Score” Movement Include Teachers, Too
http://www.nprillinois.org/post/does-more-score-mean-teachers-too

Massachusetts Time to Overhaul Exam School Admissions
https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2019/03/13/boston-exam-schools-diversity-ivan-espinoza-madrigal-lauren-sampson

Mississippi State Reaches Agreement with Vendor Over Breach That Exposed Student Test Data
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2019/03/15/data-breach-mississippi-questar-reach-agreement-students-standardized-testing/3150910002/

New Mexico School Grades Show ABC’s of Inequality
https://www.abqjournal.com/1292925/in-santa-fe-children-learn-the-abcs-of-inequity.html

New York Selective High School Admissions Test Debated at Town Hall
https://chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2019/03/16/ocasio-cortez-other-politicians-debate-shsat-at-lively-education-town-hall/

Ohio Non-Test Pathways to Graduation Extended
http://www.akron.com/akron-ohio-community-news.asp?aID=40176

Tennessee Testing Transparency Is Needed: Release the Questions
http://www.educationviews.org/testing-transparency-is-needed-for-tennessee/

Texas Small City Mayor “Bans” STARR Test Within Municipal Limits
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Devers-mayor-bans-STAAR-test-within-city-13685412.php

Virginia Testing Disrupted at 10 Schools by Computer “Glitch”
https://pilotonline.com/news/local/education/public-schools/article_0b3b2996-4727-11e9-b3ca-b7f2aaae6bbc.html

Wyoming Local School Districts Best Able to Assess Own Students
https://trib.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-board-individual-districts-are-best-positioned-to-assess-student/article_1fa6bce3-b16c-560c-8d4a-52ddf8978b3f.html

University Admissions Cheating Conspiracy Shows a Standardized Test Might Not Always Be a Fair One
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/us/sat-act-cheating-college-admissions.html
University Admissions Is It Time to Get Rid of the SAT and ACT?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/03/19/is-it-finally-time-get-rid-sat-act-college-admissions-tests/?utm_term=.cbf3d4e477ac
University Admissions Students with Real Disabilities May be Hurt by Scandal Fallout
https://www.kunc.org/post/why-college-admissions-scandal-hurts-students-disabilities

Worth Reading What Climate Change Might Mean for Testing
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2019/03/what_climate_change_might_mean_for_test_scores.html

Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director
FairTest: National Center for Fair & Open Testing
contributor: SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions
office- (239) 395-6773 mobile- (239) 699-0468
web- http://www.fairtest.org

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