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As the last classrooms close for summer break, it's a good time to look back -- the past year has been among the best ever for the testing reform movement: more states eliminating exit exams; successful campaigns to rollback test-driven school grading schemes and the fastest ACT/SAT-optional growth rate in history.

Though most public schools across the U.S. have closed for the summer, there are still plenty of stories about effective campaigns to roll back standardized exam misuse and overuse. Encourage your friends and allies to sign up for these updates so they can receive important news and tools -

Along with this week's news about assessment reform progress, FairTest offers two freshly updated resources for activists to use in their local campaigns and journalists to reference for their reporting:
   - a chronology of computer testing problems
           https://www.fairtest.org/computerized-testing-problems-chronology
   - history of test design, administration, and scoring failures by Pearson, the world's largest testing company

Along with an ever-growing number of stories about successful assessment reform initiatives, we still see many disturbing reports of ongoing damage to students and educators from standardized exam misuse and overuse. Grassroots activists and their allies should feel free to contact FairTest for assistance with building winning local campaigns to replace testing overkill with authentic forms of assessment. 

Alabama Legislature Passes Grade Three Reading Retention Test Plan

There was no holiday in testing news during the past week -- both new standardized exam misuse outrages and more assessment reform progress.

Widespread controversy around the College Board's new "Adversity Score" for college applicants highlighted why relying on test results to make high-stakes educational decisions is bad policy.  See FairTest's reaction here:

With Washington's recent repeal of its graduation testing mandate, only eleven states still have exit exams. That's the lowest number in decades!  Check out FairTest's freshly updated fact sheet to see why so many jurisdictions have eliminated these counter-productive requirements  -- http://www.fairtest.org/graduation-test-update-states-recently-eliminated -- and use these arguments if your state still has a grad test.

Lots of progress this week in reducing (or eliminating!) the role of standardized tests in teacher evaluation plus huge opt-outs in New York and more test-optional admissions policy adoptions.  The grassroots assessment reform movement continues to grow -- and win -- across the U.S.

From opting out of tests to demonstrating at state capitals to implementing new polices, the assessment reform movement is winning more victories from coast to coast.  Check out the latest examples of the damage done by standardized exam overkill along with tools developed by effective campaigns for better alternatives in this week's clips.  Your friends and allies can sign up for this free service at:

How much more evidence do some policy-makers and their big-money donors need before they admit that high-stakes testing driven education "reform" is a failure?  This week's news clips provide more ammunition for activists fighting to replace standardized exam overkill with assessments that help improve learning and teaching -- as you will see, meaningful victories are increasingly common.

National Mismatch Between New Science Tests and Many States' Science Requirements