Bob Schaeffer of FAIRTEST summarizes the fast-moving events of the past week in the burgeoning movement to stop high-stakes testing:
An explosive week for the testing resistance and reform movement. Nationally, pressure is mounting on President Obama, Secretary Duncan and members of Congress to cut back on federal mandates which help drive standardized exam insanity. At the same time, grassroots campaigns are forcing local officials to overhaul the testing policies they control — today’s summary includes stories from 19 states as well as several excellent commentaries.
Revolt Against Common Core Testing Goes National
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/common-core-112144.html
Eleven National Civil Rights Groups Urge Obama Administration to Drop Test-Based “Accountability”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/28/eleven-civil-rights-groups-urge-obama-to-drop-test-based-k-12-accountability-system/
Arne Duncan Blows Standardized Smoke
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-greene/arne-duncan-standardized-tests_b_6049774.html
Does Arne Duncan Think “Suburban Moms” Are Really That Gullible?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/26/does-arne-duncan-think-suburban-moms-are-a-gullible-bunch/
California Moving Rapidly Toward Post-NCLB Accountability
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/on_california/2014/10/california_moving_rapidly_toward_post-nclb_accountability.html
What Are Delaware Schools Teaching? Test Prep
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/10/23/schools-teaching-us/17791861/
Florida State House Candidates Agree: Too Much Testing
South Florida State House Candidates Agree There’s Too Much Testing
Florida Should End School Testing Factory Driven By Extremist Ideologues
http://members.jacksonville.com/business/columnists/2014-10-27/story/guest-column-florida-should-end-school-testing-factory
Chicago Schools Seek to Delay Start of New Illinois Common Core Tests
http://politics.suntimes.com/article/chicago/cps-wants-delay-start-new-standardized-test/wed-10222014-345pm
No One Wants to Give Illinois PARCC Test But Every Student Will Be Required to Take It
http://www.chicagonow.com/still-advocating/2014/10/parcc-a-test-no-one-wants-to-give-but-everyone-has-to-take/
Indiana’s Failed School Grading Experiment
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/recent-editorials-published-in-indiana-newspapers/article_00c840ce-65c8-5d61-8840-c402327945ee.html
Feds Nix Kansas Plan to Reduce Testing
http://cjonline.com/news/2014-10-26/federal-officials-nix-kansas-plan-reduce-high-school-testing
Massachusetts Teachers’ Head Testifies Against “Excessive and Corrosive Focus on Standardized Testing”
http://massteacher.org/news/archive/2014/madeloni_bese_testimony_oct_21_2014.aspx
Parents, Educators Criticize Massachusetts School Testing Culture at Public Forum
http://www.gazettenet.com/home/14052557-95/parents-teachers-critique-high-stakes-tests-at-northampton-forum
Only One of Nebraska’s 248 School Districts Meets NCLB Standard
http://www.theindependent.com/news/local/only-of-nebraska-s-school-districts-meet-nclb-requirement-of/article_565be5ac-5c06-11e4-ab69-733a2bd936dc.html
New Hampshire’s New Way to Assess Learning Could Reduce Standardized Testing
http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/14006206-95/my-turn-states-new-way-to-assess-student-learning-could-reduce-standardized-testing
As Common Core Testing Draws Near, New Jersey Concerns Grow
http://www.northjersey.com/news/as-common-core-testing-draws-nearer-public-worries-persist-1.1114180
New Mexico Parents Opt Children Out of Standardized Testing
http://krwg.org/post/parents-opting-their-kids-out-standardized-tests
New York Gov. Cuomo Pledges “Not to Use Common Core Test Scores For At Least Five Years . . .”
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-10-20/andrew-cuomo-concedes-defeat-in-the-common-core-wars
Local Education Leaders Give State School Board Failing Grades
http://www.saugertiesx.com/2014/10/23/saugerties-school-board-state/
Ohio Teachers Say High-Stakes Testing Leads to More Tests, Less Teaching
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/10/test_mania_teachers_say_high_stakes_of_testing_leads_to_more_tests_less_teaching.html
Parents Opt Kids Out of Ohio Testing Due to Pressure Anxiety
http:/www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/10/test_mania_parents_opt_out_of.html
Oklahoma Wants Its “No Child Left Behind” Waiver Back
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2014/10/oklahoma_wants_its_nclb_waiver.html
New Oklahoma Testing Company Leads to New Testing Problems
http://www.fox23.com/news/news/local/new-testing-company-more-problems/nhpyx/
Why My Children Won’t Take Oregon’s Smarter Balanced Tests
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/10/why_my_kids_will_not_take_the.html
Oregon Opt Outs Illustrate “Ludicrous” Testing System
http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-23379-testing_their_patien.html
Pearson May Lose Huge Texas Testing Contract
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/11155993/Pearsons-dominance-of-textbook-market-is-under-examination.html
Owners of Texas-Based NCLB Tutoring Firm Plead Guilt to Fraud
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20141021-tutoring-firm-owners-plead-guilty-to-defrauding-dallas-fort-worth-isds1.ece
Utah Super: Too Much Testing, Not Enough Assessment for Learning
http://www.standard.net/Guest-Commentary/2014/10/25/Too-much-testing-not-enough-assessment.html
West Virginia Tests Don’t Build Students’ Skills: Teachers Do
https://www.edsurge.com/n/2014-10-23-tests-don-t-build-skills-teachers-do-remembering-the-role-of-technology
As Student Testing Mounts, Growing Chorus in Wisconsin Says It’s Too Much
http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/as-student-testing-mounts-growing-chorus-says-its-too-much-b99377461z1-280485422.html
Wisconsin Professor: Repeal NCLB to Improve Education
http://www.thenorthwestern.com/story/opinion/columnists/2014/10/22/schools-federal-law-repeal-commentary/17714191/
Students Are “More Than a Score” on Standardized Tests: Book Review
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/26933-students-are-more-than-a-score-on-standardized-tests
Are Common Core Standards and Tests Developmentally Appropriate? Experts Weigh In
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2014/10/23/the-science-of-the-common-core-experts-weigh-in-on-its-developmental-appropriateness/
Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director
FairTest: National Center for Fair & Open Testing
office- (239) 395-6773 fax- (239) 395-6779
mobile- (239) 699-0468
web- http://www.fairtest.org
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Castles made of sand, slip into the sea, eventually.”
– Jimi Hendrix
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I tried to put my CCSS protest into an art form: We Should Have Listened to the Lorax!
The most orders for my Common Core Protest Poster have come from parents and teachers in NY, California, and Florida. It is not a poster for children, but about how children are being harmed in the Common Core environment of authoritarian behaviorism, and the destructive impact this poisonous pedagogy is having on public schools and our country, as well as the children. The line that reads……”Our nation is dying, this grief it too great”…does not mean a physical death, but it means the end of our Democracy and our change into an Oligarchy. The poster may seem pricey, but the art is original from a well known Texas artist, and the costs of art, graphic design, and printing was expensive. I do not expect to make a profit on this, but created it as a message that school administrators and politicians might understand. Most teachers who have bought it posted it in their faculty centers at their schools, much to the ire of their administrators (some of whom forget that we still have First Amendment rights!)….Please feel free to order and send it as gifts to teachers, principals, and politicians as a message of resistance to CCSS and a constant reminder of SOS for children:
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Those decision-makers who are, just now, rejecting the hedge fund and tech moguls’ duplicity, lack the essential vision and values, that characterize, “Leaders”.
They are reactors to overwhelming evidence.
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“. . . who are, just now. . . ”
Wouldn’t expect them to have realized any sooner as it’s just getting into the hard core campaign/election season. They be back to normal in a week or two.
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They will be deaf and dumb, not to mention, totally forgetful in a few weeks.They will tell you anything for a vote. Remember, the oligarchs don’t need to donate to campaigns, they can buy the politicians by assuring them post political careers in education reform. Until we quit voting for them they won’t listen. We need to be, as others have posted, sufficient in numbers to be a tipping point.
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Reblogged this on carolbach and commented:
Please folks, read this and decide if YOUR district ought to opt out and resist
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Vandykel@michigan.gov
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