Fred Smith is a genuine Testing Expert. He has the technical expertise to dig deep into the numbers and understand what they mean and what they don’t mean. He spent most of his career at the New York City Board of Education. Now he is a valued consultant to the Opt Out Movement in New York. He knows fraud in testing and he’s not afraid to call it out.
Fred Smith is a hero of American education, and he here joins the honor roll.
Read this article about him, which contains links to his latest work.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Testing today is all about politics eclipsing the research. We are no longer looking at the interests of students; we are yielding to the pressure of special interest groups. The Common Core and all the never validated tests based on them are a perfect example of allowing politics to be inflicted on our students. As for the dramatic increase in the number of zeroes, this is telling us that the students do not comprehend what they are being asked to do. Forcing ELLs to take a test before research tells us they are ready will continue to result in more zeroes. Students are not computers programmed to read with fluency by third grade. Some students will read better than perceived grade levels and others, particularly the poor, will be struggling. The tests, often poorly written and above grade level, do not provide accurate information on students. Lagging students may get a zero if they cannot read or understand the tests. These tests are not useful to teachers or students. The only winner is the testing companies that churn out testing materials for mega bucks.
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Good Choice. He’s been a long time ally!!
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Inspiring and motivating. Thank you and especially Fred!
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Bravo and hooray for Fred Smith! Using his expertise to undermine the testing invasion. Let’s keep rooting for more folks like him to turn against the status quo–this is sometimes called “the desertion of the intelligentsia.”
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Thank you. We must mount an organized Opt Out 2019! campaign in all parts of New York City to stop the annual testing program, which so cruelly impacts different groups of children. Otherwise the Mayor and Chancellor will somehow turn compliance by parents into proof that they actually want the testing to continue.
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The principals tell the teachers who tell the parents and the children that they won’t get the school of their choice unless they have test scores. Also, immmigrant children are afraid of doing anything to disobey.
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Kudos to Fred Smith for calling the testing companies out.
But unfortunately, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Pearson out, Questar in doesn’t mean much because Questar actually hired a former Pearson exec to head up their testing.
It’s an intestuous business.
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