Building a Successful Assessment Reform Movement -- A Three-Part Series by FairTest
FairTest staff analyze the growing resistance to high-stakes tests and propose steps toward growing a larger, more effective movement. Part I discusses the need for over-arching strategies to guide the work. Part II explains why we need to push for authentic assessments. And Part III offers specific tactics activists can employ.
The US House of Representatives Education Committee held hearings on "accountability" May 7, 2013. FairTest submitted testimony opposing high-stakes testing and test-based accountability and supporting educationally sound approaches to assessment and accountability.
To win federal Race to the Top grants or waivers from No Child Left Behind, most states have adopted teacher and principal evaluation systems based largely on student test scores. Many educators have resisted these unproven policies. Researchers from 16 Chicago-area universities and more than 1,500 New York state principals signed statements against such practices. Chicago teachers even struck over this issue, among others. Here’s why these systems-- including “value added” (VAM) or “growth” measures -- are not effective or fair.
FairTest, 12 other organizations, and prominent individuals have drafted the following a national Resolution on High-Stakes Testing. We call organizations and individuals to endorse it. We also encourage people to write letters and get organizations to endorse it; here are some tools you can use.
Comprehensive School Quality Reviews: FairTest has
collaborated with Coalition for Effective Schools on a Working Paper
(PDF) and a Summary (PDF) of a Review system.
“A Better Way to Evaluate Schools” outlines a 3-part school evaluation system – school quality reviews, limited standardized testing, plus school-based and local evidence.
