FairTest: The Movement to Reduce High-Stakes Testing Grows Stronger

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1. Bob Schaeffer says:

   September 2, 2016 at 12:29 pm

   Thanks for posting the current issue of “Testing Resistance & Reform News,” Diane. We often include items from your excellent blog, which every assessment reformer should follow closely. Those who want to receive our weekly newsclip summaries directly via email can sign up at http://fairtest.org/weekly-news-signup

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2. ciedie aech says:

   September 2, 2016 at 2:31 pm

   Remember those days not so long ago when kids were expected to do well on TEACHER-MADE assessments?

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3. retired teacher says:

   September 2, 2016 at 2:42 pm

   “Reformers” didn’t get the memo telling them that testing does not improve outcomes for poor students. In fact, the reverse is often true, especially when students are denied opportunities related to high stakes testing.

   “Reform” refuses to accept that poverty is our biggest adversary, not unions or teachers. Peter Greene recently summarized the results of a succinct, authentic research project by Ben Spielberg. The results concur with what most experienced teachers know, Poverty does matters, and it matters more than we know. Greene outlines the key points:
   1) There are achievement gaps already present by the time children enter kindergarten, and they are related to family income.

   2) School quality is a minor factor in explaining the testing (aka “achievement”) gap.

   3) Economic success in this country is less common for low-income students who are successful in school than for high-income students who are unsuccessful in school.

   4) The test scores of students in the United States relative to the test scores of students around the world aren’t all that different than what students’ self-reports of their socioeconomic status would predict.

   5) The distribution of educational attainment in the United States has improved significantly over the past twenty-five years without significantly improving students’ eventual economic outcomes.

   Numbers three and five hit me hard. Point three shows that wealthy underachievers can do better in life than poor kids that graduate from college. Point five tells us that despite our improved academic outcomes, all of this improvement has not translated into economic gains. Bernie is right. Wage stagnation is holding us back. We need to forget about “reform” and provide all families with a living wage and stable careers. As incomes rise so should the outcomes for our students. We can stop demeaning teachers. It is the economy that has us stalled, not public education.

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   • JB2 says:

     September 2, 2016 at 9:12 pm

     I’d add, after family income, the educational level of the mother to #1.

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4. RageAgainstTheTetsocracy says:

   September 2, 2016 at 7:30 pm

   This headline is missing”

   “Many NYS School Districts Turn SLOs Into National laughing Stock!”

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