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FairTest collaborated with the National Coalition of Urban Education Associations (NCUEA) Time on Learning Committee to develop a survey that teacher unions can use with their members to expose the consequences of high-stakes testing. It can easily be adapted for use by parent, student and community groups. 

As the school year wraps up in many parts of the country, the assessment reform movement is simultaneously focused on the semester's final round of standardized exams and on how state plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act will change testing in the future.  

Assessment reform proposals continue to move forward in many state legislatures as grassroots pressure from parents, educators and community leaders forces policy makers to reconsider standardized exam overkill.

From state after state, there are encouraging reports of progress toward curbing standardized exam overkill and creating opportunities for alternative assessments and accountability systems. As always, grassroots activism -- via opt-out campaigns, lobbying, public education, etc. -- is the key to pressuring policy makers to adopt genuine reforms. 

With stories from 20 states, this week's news clips demonstrate the breadth and depth of the grassroots assessment reform movement. Effective advocacy by parents, students, educators and community leaders across the nation is pressuring more and more policy makers to cut back testing overuse and misuse, creating space for better systems of assessment. 

As peak school testing season nears in many states, grassroots activists are winning more and more victories against standardized exam overuse and misuse.  Parents, educators, community leaders and their allies need to keep pressure on policy makers to curb testing overkill and create more space for performance assessments. 

Aggressive grassroots testing resistance campaigns and a string of assessment reform policy victories highlight a very active week with standardized exam season now underway in many states.

Standardized Testing and Young Children -- new FairTest assessment reform resource in English and Espanol
http://fairtest.org/standardized-testing-and-young-children

California How Parents Can Opt Children Out of Standardized Testing
http://www.cta.org/optout

Connecticut State Removes Student Test Scores From Teacher Evaluations

It's spring testing season. In many states, the grassroots pushback against standardized exam misuse and overuse is gaining strength. Check out this week's clips to see how legislatures, boards of education, and other policy-making bodies are responding to assessment reform movement power!

New Advocacy Resource: Standard  Testing and Students with Disabilities
http://fairtest.org/standardized-testing-and-students-disabilities
Other Recent Assessment Reform Tools from FairTest
http://fairtest.org/new-and-updated-fact-sheets

Does Inclusion in Testing Mean Inclusion in Meaningful Learning?

1. Federal law requires 95% test participation, including for the vast majority of students with disabilities. (One percent of all students may be assessed to alternative standards with alternative assessments. Federal law leaves it up to each state to decide what to do if a school or district does not test 95%.) The theory is that full inclusion in testing will drive full inclusion in learning the “standard” academic curriculum.

School testing season begins in many states this week, and grassroots protests are exploding across the nation. To help parents, students, educators and allies build more powerful testing resistance and assessment reform campaigns FairTest has released new and updated advocacy tools