National Testing

URGENT (Jan 2015) ~ Write Congress to demand less testing, an end to high stakes.

FairTest has extensive information on NCLB. See the FairTest National pages below for research, articles, news, fact sheets, legislation, and information on how you can help to change NCLB for the better.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

FairTest Materials on National Testing/NCLB/Waivers
Other Research, Reports, Fact Sheets, materials
Legislation
News.
Alternatives for Federal Law/NCLB/ESEA
Get Involved in Testing Reform

FairTest Testimony on ESEA Reauthorization to Senate HELP Committee.
Write Congress to demand less testing, an end to high stakes.
FEA Recommendations for ESEA on Assessment, Accountability and School Improvement, Jan. 2015
FairTest Statement on Federal Standardized Exam Mandates
Independent Test Results Show NCLB Fails
Testing Reformers React to Sec. Duncan's Call for "No Child" Revamp
Time for a Real Testing Moratorium
Teacher Evaluation Should Not Rest on Student Test Scores (Revised 2014)
Why You Can Boycott Standardized Tests Without Fear of Federal Penalties to Your School
Testing Reform Victories: The First Wave
Testing Resistance & Reform News: August 20 - 26, 2014
Fairtest’s Reaction to Proposal To Postpone Test-Based Teacher Ratings
Forum on Educational Accountability's Recomendations for Improving Federal Assessment Law
Testing Resistance & Reform News: May 29 - June 3, 2014
Special Edition: Testing Resistance & Reform News: April 2 - 4, 2014
Testing Resistance & Reform News: March 19 - 25, 2014
Testing Resistance & Reform News: February 26 - March 4, 2014
Testing Resistance & Reform Spring
Nat'l Ed Leaders Propose Principles for Congressional Compromise on NCLB
Organizing: Strategic Resources, Reports, Analyses
A How-To Guide to Community Forums on Testing
Testing Resistance & Reform News: December 18 - 24, 2013
Testing Resistance & Reform News: November 8 - 13, 2013
Testing Resistance & Reform News: October 31 - November 7, 2013
FairTest News Release on 2013 NAEP Results, Added Evidence of NCLB Failure
FairTest News Release on Public Letter about Standardized Testing by 120+ Children's Authors & Illustrators
Public Letter on Standardized Testing from Authors and Illustrators of Books for Children and Youth
Public Letter on Standardized Testing from Authors and Illustrators of Books for Children and Youth
FairTest Infographic: Common Core: More Tests, But Not Better
New Fact Sheet: Common Core Assessment Myths and Realities: Moratorium Needed From More Tests, Costs, Stress
Testing Resistance & Reform News: August 15 - August 21, 2013
FairTest Press Release: New Poll Shows "Americans Fed Up with School-Test Overkill"
Testing Resistance & Reform News: August 1 - August 7, 2013
Testing Resistance & Reform News: July 25 - 31, 2013
Testing Resistance & Reform News: July 18 - 24, 2013
The Spring 2013 Testing Reform Uprising.
FairTest: Constituents Must Pressure Congress to Overhaul NCLB
FairTest Press Release: Senate Education Bill Fails To Reverse "No Child Left Behind" Damage, Ignores Constituents
Building a Successful Assessment Reform Movement
FairTest submits testimony on accountability to House Education Committee
FairTest Press Release: Standardized Exam Cheating In 37 States And D.C.; New Report Shows Widespread Test Score Corruption
Pop Quiz on Testing: Are You Keeping Up?
FairTest Commentary: Chicago Strike Echos High-Stakes Testing Resistance
Resistance to High Stakes Testing Spreads
NEW SCHOOL YEAR: DOUBLING DOWN ON FAILED ED. POLICY
How You Can Build Support for the National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing!
Op-ed published in Charlotte (NC) on The National Resolution
Sample letter to editor on the National Resolution (longer)
Sample Sample letter to editor on the National Resolution (short)
Sample Letter to state and federal legislators on the National Resolution
Sample Letter to friends and colleagues on the National Resolution
High-Stakes Testing Resistance Spreads Across Nation
Testing Reform in the News -- June 8 - 12, 2012
National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing - Sign Now!
FairTest to Honor Diane Ravitch with the Deborah W. Meier Hero in Education Award
Summary and Critique of Key Provisions in Harkin-Enzi ESEA/NCLB Reauthorization Bill of October 2011
What to say when you call your senator about NCLB
FairTest Key Recommendations to the Senate, October 16, 2011
Contacting your Senators to recommend changes to NCLB
Models for Writing About Personal Experience with NCLB
FairTest responds to the Administration's dangerous "flexibility" proposals to change NCLB.
What Should Congress Do About Teacher Evaluation?
FairTest Critiques Sen. Alexander's ESEA-NCLB proposals: The few benefits don't outweigh the problems.
Monty Neill's second written testimony to Mass Bd of Ed on teacher evaluation
Monty Neill's second written testimony to Mass Bd of Ed on teacher evaluation
ESEA Reauthorization and Ending the "School-to-Prison" Pipeline: A Congressional Briefing
Detailed FairTest study of NAEP results shows NCLB has not led to improved student learning.
Poll on NCLB: Americans Want a Useful Overhaul of Education Policy.
Position Paper on NCLB and the School to Prison Pipeline
FairTest Press Release on 2011 State of the Union Speech
NCLB and Assessing Bilingual Students
A Better Way to Assess Students and Evaluate Schools
FEA: A Research- and Experience-Based Turnaround Process
Multiple Measures: A Definition and Examples from the U.S. and Other Nations
FEA Recommendations for Improving ESEA/NCLB - Summary and Full
Recommendations for Overhauling ESEA/NCLB
FairTest comments on US Education Department's "Race to the Top Assessment Program" hearing in Boston on Nov. 12.
NAEP RESULTS PRODUCE MORE EVIDENCE OF NCLB'S FAILURE
Questions for Arne Duncan, Nominee for Secretary of Education
President-Elect Barack Obama on No Child Left Behind
Forum on Educational Accountability Successful in its Efforts to Improve the Higher Education Act
FairTest Article on NCLB in AFSC journal Peacework
Refocusing Accountability
Head Start Letter
Summary of Proposed Legislative Changes to ESEA/NCLB
Aspen Commission Proposals are "NCLB on Steroids;" Side-Effect Will Be More "Teaching to the Tests" (PDF)
Letter in Opposition to Testing Head Start Children
National Assessment of Educational Progress and National Assessment Governing Board
PURE testimony to the Senate Education Committee Subcommittee on NCLB
High School Testing: Letter to Congress
Classroom Caste System
Letter to the Nation
Forum on Educational Accountability Proposed ESEA/NCLB Amendments
Seven Ways to Work to Overhaul the Federal Education Law (ESEA/NCLB)
Another (Easy) Way to Act for NCLB Change
Act TODAY for NCLB Overhaul
Ensure U.S. House Really Overhauls NCLB
Keep up the Pressure for Real NCLB Reform!
A Draft Alternative Approach to Accountability
Performance Assessment Language for ESEA
Statement of FairTest in Reaction to Pres. Bush Signing "Leave No Child Behind Act"
Minimum Revisions Needed to Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Testing and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Provisions
Issues and Arguments on Bush Testing Plan
Impact of ESEA on Massachusetts
Summary of the New Elementary and Secondary Education Act
ESEA Draft Rules
MCAS Gains are Unreliable Basis for "High Performing" School Awards; Annual Score Increases Often are Not Sustained
Testing Industry Not Competent to Handle Bush Exam Expansion Plan
How "Improvement" Works in ESEA
Civil Rights, Disability Orgs. Call for "Multiple Measures" in "No Child" Overhaul Legislation
Test Reformers React to New National Poll on "No Child Left Behind" (PDF)
Civil Rights, Disability Orgs. Call for "Multiple Measures" in "No Child" Overhaul Legislation (PDF)
NEW REPORT CHALLENGES STRATEGIES PROMOTED BY CHICAGO SCHOOL OFFICIALS AND "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND"
No Child Left Behind Flunks on 3rd Anniversary Report Card; Law Needs Complete Overhaul to Promote School Reform
Testing, Discipline and the School to Prison Pipeline
Congress Needs a Different ESEA Blueprint
Should NCLB cause most schools to Fail?
Confronting the Myths of No Child Left Behind
“No Child Left Behind” After Six Years: An Escalating Track Record of Failure
FairTest's Op Ed in The Atlanta Journal Constitution: When put to a test, testing culture flunks
A FairTest Position Statement on NCLB
What is the "No Child Left Behind" Law?
NCLB’s Lost Decade Report
Letter from FairTest to all Presidential Candidates. October 2007
Reality-Testing NCLB
Video: "FairTest: You Can't Judge Learning with a Standardized Test"
High Stakes Tests Do Not Improve Student Learning

More than 800 four-year colleges and universities do not use the SAT or ACT to admit substantial numbers of bachelor-degree applicants.

See the searchable database of schools.

Find out why and how schools go "Test Optional."

What's New at FairTest

FairTest Testimony on ESEA Reauthorization to Senate HELP Committee.
Write Congress to demand less testing, an end to high stakes.
FEA Recommendations for ESEA on Assessment, Accountability and School Improvement, Jan. 2015

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