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Most 2020 state legislative sessions are now underway.  Let your representatives know that it's time to roll back standardized exam mandates to the federal minimum and stop test score misuses for grade promotion, high school graduation, district rankings, teacher bonuses and the like. This is an election year, so public officials are paying particular attention to voters' concerns!

Arizona School Grades Don't Tell the Whole Story

With 2020 state legislative sessions getting underway in many states, it's the right time for educators, community leaders and grassroots activists to press their representatives to roll back testing misuse and overuse.  Check out the assessment reform policy initiatives already in play in several jurisdictions in this week's news clips.

National Bernie Sanders and Mike Pence Opposed "No Child Left Behind" for Very Different Reasons

Welcome to the first weekly issue of FairTest's "Testing Resistance & Reform News" of 2020!  Our new year's resolution is to increase coverage of initiatives, trends and tools that help parents, students, educators, community leaders and policy makers replace standardized exam misuse and overuse with better forms of assessment.  Please send us links to articles and materials you think would be useful for allies by replying to this message.

Seasons Greetings!   No matter how you celebrate the end-of-year holidays, the FairTest team wishes you joy for the final days of 2019 and best wishes for a happy, successful new year with less testing and more learning.
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Even in the midst of pre-holiday festivities, there's still plenty of good news about the assessment reform movement. As we celebrate the season in our own, diverse ways, please help keep the pressure on policymakers so our campaigns to roll back testing misuse and overuse have even more success in the new year.

California School Accountability Dashboard Encourages Assistance and Improvement, Not Punishment

The record of victories earned by testing reformers in 2019 continues to expand -- both posting concrete meaningful policy wins and building public opinion against high-stakes standardized exams. Please help give our movement the clout need to make even more progress in 2020 by contributing to FairTest here:

On this Giving Tuesday, as every day of the year, FairTest continues to advance the U.S. assessment reform movement by providing activists with resources such as these weekly compilations of news clips and advocacy tools.  Please help make it possible for us to continue supporting your important, grassroots work in 2020 by making a generous, year-end contribution today. Simply click here:

"Giving Tuesday," which kicks-off the year-end season when you will be encouraged to support nonprofit organizations, is just a week away.  If you find these updates help your assessment reform work, please make an early contribution that will help  provide FairTest with the financial muscle it needs to continue this publication and lead winning campaigns against testing misuse and overuse.

Policy-makers are finally getting the message about the failure of high-stakes testing for students, teachers and schools. There's still a long way to go, but real assessment reform progress is definitely underway in many states. 

From Alaska to Florida and many states in-between, the pushback against standardized testing misuse and overuse continues to accelerate. Feel free to use this week's stories and commentaries as models for your own local assessment reform work.