When Congress returns from its Independence Day recess on July 7, the U.S. Senate is scheduled to take up bipartisan legislation to overhaul “No Child Left Behind.” The bill the Senate will consider significantly reduces federal test-based accountability requirements but continues the federal mandate to test every child every year in elementary and middle school. Grassroots pressure on your two U.S. Senators can make the federal government follow the lead of many states in reversing policies that encourage standardized exam overuse and misuse.
National Help Roll Back Federal Testing Overkill — Urge Your U.S. Senators to Support the Tester Amendment Now!
http://www.fairtest.org/roll-back-standardized-testing-send-letter-congres
Major Education Groups to Congress: Get Rid of “No Child” Law Already
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/education-groups-to-congress-please-get-rid-of-no-child-left-behind-already/2015/06/22/3c3b094e-18ff-11e5-93b7-5eddc056ad8a_story.html
California Principal Backs Down From Punishing Students Whose Families Opted Out of State Tests
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/06/24/california-school-backtracks-on-common-core-opt-out-punishment/
Delaware Lawmakers Overwhelmingly Approve Opt Out Bill, Forward to Governor for Signature
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/education/2015/06/25/lawmakers-ok-letting-students-skip-standardized-testing/29287065/
District of Columbia How Standardized Tests Are Impeding Learning
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/27176/heres-how-standardized-tests-are-impeding-learning-in-dc/
Florida No Word on Penalties for Test Maker After Computer Exam Problems
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/still-no-word-on-penalties-for-air-over-floridas-spring-testing-woes/2234605
Florida School Board Says State Downplaying Extent of Computer Test Foul Up Impact
http://news.wfsu.org/post/leon-school-board-says-doe-downplaying-impact-spring-testing-glitches
Indiana District Supers Say Don’t Evaluate Schools With Unsound Test Data
http://www.jconline.com/story/opinion/readers/2015/06/26/op-ed-time-school-standards/29333899/
Massachusetts Support of High-Stakes Exams Misses the Immeasurable
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/letters/2015/06/23/globe-support-testing-misses-unmeasurable/0QqPyTcRjoIpBcYoAVeabI/story.html?s_campaign=8315
Minnesota Testing Faces Big Cuts
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/06/29/minnesota-school-testing-cuts
Missouri Districts Still Waiting for Delayed Testing Results
http://www.semissourian.com/story/2207439.html
Montana Feds Should Not Punish State for Testing Company Screw-ups
http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/editorial/missoulian-editorial-don-t-penalize-montana-for-test-glitches/article_7d9f86cc-01de-55f2-aa65-79aac3a17d43.html
Montana Two Teachers Run for State Education Superintendent to Reign In Testing
http://mtpr.org/post/two-teachers-enter-race-montana-superintendent-public-instruction
New Jersey One Step Closer to Banning K-2 Standardized Tests
http://www.nj.com/education/2015/06/nj_one_step_closer_to_ban_on_k-2_standardized_test.html
New Mexico 10,000 Opted Out Statewide Because They Know the Score About PARCC Tests
http://www.taosnews.com/opinion/article_52aa75a2-176a-11e5-82bd-331359fb774d.html
New York Relaxes Gag Rule Preventing Teachers From Discussing Test Questions
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/29/nyregion/new-york-relaxes-gag-order-preventing-teachers-from-discussing-standardized-tests.html
New York Reasons to Be Hopeful for Assessment Reform
http://wamc.org/post/karen-magee-testing-and-evaluations-reasons-be-hopeful#stream/0
Ohio School Testing Metrics Punish Disadvantaged Districts and Students
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2015/06/25/no-child-left-behinds-school-performance-metrics-may-be-punishing-disadvantaged-school-districts-and-students/
Ohio Poised to Drop PARCC Test
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/state_edwatch/2015/06/ohio_poised_to_ditch_parcc_common-core_test_in_budget_sent_to_gov_kasich.html
Oregon Signs Bill Making Test Opt Outs Easier Despite Arne Duncan’s Threats
http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/33225736-75/oregon-governor-signs-smarter-balanced-opt-out-law.html.csp
Oregon New Law Could Lead to More Opt Outs
http://ijpr.org/post/new-oregon-law-could-lead-more-testing-opt-outs
Pennsylvania Local School Board Passes Resolution Urging State to Ease Up on Testing
http://www.timesherald.com/general-news/20150623/phoenixville-area-school-district-calls-for-fewer-standardized-tests
Pennsylvania Spanish Speaking Students Say “No” to Standardized Tests
http://www.npr.org/2015/06/26/417870093/spanish-speaking-students-say-no-to-standardized-tests
Tennessee: Are Test Statistics a True Measure of Learning in Public Schools?
http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2015/06/25/statistics-true-measure-learning-schools/
Virginia Meeting Testing Goals Harder as Number of English Language Learners Soars
http://hamptonroads.com/2015/06/schools-weigh-how-meet-standards-el-students-rise
Washington Test-Makers Blame Scheduling Problems for Scoring Delay
http://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/testing-group-poor-scheduling-to-blame-for-scoring-delays/
Washington Graduation at Risk for 2,000 Due to Political Stalemate on Testing
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/graduation-at-risk-for-2000-because-of-stalemate-on-testing/
University Admissions: June SAT Timing/Scoring Error Leads to Calls for Summer Retest, Refunds, and Rebates
http://www.news-press.com/story/news/2015/06/25/sat-scores-june-validity-questions-retake-refund/29294517/
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 
I’m just curious as to why Texas is left out of this list?
It’s just a weekly aggregation of articles regarding opt out and other issues to do with standardized testing, particularly resistance to standardized testing. Not every state has something every week. Plus this is just the work of one or a few volunteers. If there’s something you think they’ve overlooked, I’m sure they’d be happy to hear from you.
Not particularly but Texas is definitely one of those states that’s really resistant to a lot of things and single-handedly manufactures most of the Republican ass-clowns we hear about today.
“Not everything that counts can be counted, and, not everything that can be counted counts.” Einstein
The rest is driven by money.
I sent the letter to my senators, and I encourage others to copy and paste the email address and send it to as many friends and colleagues as possible. Let’s flood the senate with a message to stop the testing insanity before they vote.
I’m baffled by ANY support of this bill. There’s significant other issues with it- data mining, usurping parental rights, local control…
>
And–once again–good old ILL-Annoy is in stalling mode (HB 306 Opt Out bill still languishing in Senate Committee?) Well, we don’t even have a budget agreement, so…
Despite the ILL-Annoyance, many, many, many thanks & props to Rep. Will Guzzardi & all the legislators who sponsored, signed-on (to the House, which passed it) &, of course, to all the wonderful, courageous parents and organizers of Raise Your Hand, More Than a Score, ChiOptOut, ILOptOut, Parents $ Teachers, Wendy Katten, Cassie Creswell, the entire 11th Grade of a suburban school district (Rolling Meadows–?) who opted themselves out of tests, & anyone & everyone else I may have (not-on-purpose) left out.
Yes WE did, yes, WE can & yes WE WILL!
Reblogged this on Exceptional Delaware and commented:
With 21 million hits and counting, Diane’s blog is THE education blog in America. I am always excited whenever I see little old Delaware mentioned in any of her posts!