This is one of the best stories I have read in days.
Here is an example of a parent who said “enough is enough.”
This parent filed a Freedom of Information Act request demanding that the Pearson tests be released for public review.
He is right. Why should this company and this state have the power to make decisions about our children (and my grandchildren) without showing us what their criteria are?
I say to him, “Thank you!”
It’s time for parents to stand up and stop this top-down controlling of children and misuse of testing.
Standardized tests have their place as diagnostic tools. They have their place, used sparingly, for information purposes.
But they are being overused and misused.
Parents, say no.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
There is a standard deviation error of 15% plus or minus in every standardized test. The new core standards are not even standardized at this point; they are experimental as we saw on Diane’s previous posting and other information.
As a former teacher, I used three tests to try and determine the need of every child. We tested one test yearly and never at any time taught to the test as is being done now. The standard deviation error over time will be much higher with this type of instruction (prompting or teaching to a test) and the retention and transfer will be almost nill. Someone should check the research on memory; I have.
The core curriculum is programming not education. No teacher or child should be evaluated based on the results of a standardized test. In my opinion, this is being done to do away with due process for teachers and representative government i. e. school boards. Citizens and parents have been sold “snake-oil” by the charter school snake-oil peddlers.
Diane, I have been doing education research for 35 years, and I have not always agreed with you, but now you are on target. Keep up the good work.
Thank you. I spent seven years on National Assessment Governing Board. Those who believe that standardized tests are best measure of learning are poorly educated. We have gone mad with data.
Diane
Parents need to understand this. They have been woefully misled about exactly what it is these tests measure. I have heard some parents say “my kids do fine, so I’m not going to make any waves”. That may be true, but they have also been made to sit through hours of mindless prepping for the test, six days of actually taking these nonsensical tests, followed by five days of sub lessons as their teachers are pulled from the classroom to grade them. I never gave the DOE permission to suspend real learning for weeks. We need to boycott June field testing. Please visit ParentVoicesNY to see what else you can do to stop this testing madness. http://www.parentvoicesny.org/
I just noticed the link on you blog. Thanks for this. I would add, that I think it would help for you and others to do what I did — FOIL the tests. I’m hopeful that if enough people do this it might wake NYSED up to the level of concern among parents.
Here’s how to do it:
Freedom of Information Law (FOIL)
New York State’s Freedom of Information Law (Public Officers Law §87 et. seq. ) allows members of the public to access records of governmental agencies. FOIL provides a process for the review and copying of an agency’s records. More information about the Freedom of Information Law can be found at: http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/foil2.html.
Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) Requests
Freedom of Information Law requests for State Education Department records may be made by:
Mail:
Records Access Officer
New York State Education Department
89 Washington Ave, Room 121 EB
Albany, NY 12234
Phone: 518-408-1818
Fax: 518-473-2827
There’s also an email address for FOIL’ing NYSED:
FOIL@mail.nysed.gov