resources
Links on Authentic Assessment and Accountability
Posted August 29th, 2007 by fairtesthttp://www.ceschangelab.org/cs/clpub/view/cl_cat/29
http://www.essentialschools.org/pub/ces_docs/schools/nem/nem_overview.html
Organizations and Experts Opposed to High Stakes Testing
Posted August 17th, 2007 by fairtestTest Company Statements against High Stakes:
Harcourt Brace on the Stanford 9: about Using their Test to Make Grade Promotion Decisions
"Promotion and Retention of Students"
Employment Testing
FairTest's creation was catalyzed by the settlement of the landmark "Golden Rule" lawsuit which charged that the insurance agent licensing exam made by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) was racially biased and not job related.
Employment testing has been one of FairTest's three areas of concern (along with K-12 and university testing) since the very beginning.
Teacher Testing
Accompanying the increased focus on student testing in the schools, some states, including Massachusetts, are rushing to test prospective and currently employed teachers. Unfortunately, there is no evidence to support the claim that standardized tests predict who will be a good teacher. The teacher tests in Massachusetts and New York were developed by National Evaluation Systems, the same company that created the controversial and doomed Alabama teacher test more than ten years ago.
Useful Links
Articles and Research Reports on Testing
- "Accountability" Versus Science in the Bilingual Education Debate, by James Crawford Feature Articles from Language Policy Research Unit, AZ. State Univ., 2002
Videos
A collection of clips of FairTest staff and allies speaking on testing issues:
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See the short video FairTest: You Can't Judge Learning with a Standardized Test available on YouTube. Thanks to Marco Greenberg, Eric Sagotsky and Tracey Leffler for assisting FairTest staff in creating this video.
FairTest Publications
FairTest Examiner
Source of up-to-date information on testing reform. Includes updates on state and federal legislation, reports on test misuse and efforts to stop it and profiles of promising new assessment systems. Covers school, university and employment testing.
