According to Valerie Strauss, about 30 of Virginia’s 130 local school boards have passed resolutions against excessive testing. The school boards say “there is “little research” that shows that students “will be better prepared to succeed in their careers and college” by taking the 34 standardized tests the state gives to each child between grades 3-11.
The resolutions in Virginia — where there are about 130 school districts — are part of a growing backlash around the country by academics, educators, parents and others against the use of standardized tests as the chief “accountability” metric to evaluate students, teachers, principals and schools for high-stakes purposes.
The Virginia Association of School Superintendents have spearheaded the drive to reduce dependence on high-stakes testing.
The movement is certain to grow, as it is growing across the country.
As more school boards pass the resolution, others get the courage to join them.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is wonderful news. It’s going to be funny to watch the politicians and pundits backtrack as this movement sweeps across the country.
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AMAZING given that Virginia is one of the states that did NOT formally adopt common core (citing as their reason that they like the standards they already have in place).
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Thankfully, VA has decided that 34 out of 180 days lost for testing needs to cease. I agree. Too bad many others are just ramping it up. Now, if the children got together and decided to tank the test- we’ll that’s a story I would love to read. Fingers crossed.
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Mark:
It is not 34 days out of 180 for every student. In Alexandria it is roughly 4 VA required tests per student over the 180-day school year. There are additional tests required by the school district.
Click to access testing-calendar.pdf
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No such luck across the Potomac here in Maryland. Not yet, anyway. :-‘(
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I’m proud that our school board in Prince William County – the 2nd largest in the state – has signed the petition.
Does anyone know what the status is of Fairfax County signing – THE LARGEST in the state? If Fairfax signs, that sends a HUGE message.
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Let’s hope many more stand up for what’s right and stop this testing frenzy.
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It is so nice to see leadership that has done the research rather than just listened to the propaganda. This reliance on the generation of testing data has overwhelmed common sense. Even within the classroom, the generation of numbers to justify every teaching decision has slowly eaten away at the interaction between students and teacher.
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I agree. I also think the business schools in this country are partially culpable…they have generated the generation(s) of grads who have gone out into the world to inflict this damage (i.e., the over reliance on data) upon society & schools in particular. Like you said, sometimes it defies common sense.
Diane – has anyone in academia given thought to questioning the business schools’ about their curriculum & what they are teaching (or rather not teaching)? There needs to be a balance between the use of data & common sense. I heard you speak recently in Washington, DC, & you articulated the essence of the problem well: “Data without eyes is blind.”
Perhaps starting a dialogue with the business schools is essential.
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Concerned Mom:
It would make far more sense to urge Schools of Education to require their students to take courses on the strengths and limitations of measurement systems such as the type offered by Daniel Koretz at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Don’t worry, he has a similar perspective on testing to Diane. (See Daniel Koretz’s Measuring Up)
You would be astonished at the relatively low level of focus on numbers at most business schools. Go to a few Business School sites and look at the requirements. For example,
http://www.hbs.edu/mba/academic-experience/curriculum/Pages/required-curriculum.aspx
Indeed I would say that most good MBA programs emphasize how to look at data with intelligent eyes – with an emphasis on evidence based decision-making.
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Hope it’s ok I’m going to use that: Research not propaganda.
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Be my guest.
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