Testing Resistance & Reform News: May 30 - June 5, 2013

There's been significant progress this week with more major groups and leaders speaking out against high-stakes testing, intensified grassroots organizing, and an ever-increasing volume of incisive commentaries. But much more pressure is needed to sway politicians still operating in insulated test-and-punish "bubbles"

National Council of English Teachers Calls for Moratorium on High-Stakes Testing
    http://www.ncte.org/governance/hayes5-28-13

Why Our Current Obsession with High-Stakes Testing is Wrong (by the head of the Americans Association of School Administrators
    http://www.eschoolnews.com/2013/06/04/why-our-current-obsession-with-high-stakes-testing-is-wrong/

Bill Significantly Cutting Back Texas Testing Awaits Governor's Approval
    http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_23375175/less-testing-gets-accolades-from-el-paso-educators

Groups Press Gov. Perry to Sign Standardized Exam Reduction Plan
    http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/article/Coalition-of-statewide-organizations-representing-4573049.php

U.S. Senate Education Bill Fails to Undo Failures of "No Child Left Behind"
    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/education/harkin-schools-legislation.html

Constituents Must Push Congress to End Test-and-Punish Policies
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/05/dont-expect-congress-to-end-test-and-punish-core-of-nclb/

• See FairTest News Release
  http://www.fairtest.org/fairtest-press-release-senate-education-bill-fails

New York Field Test Boycott Organizers Sense Momentum
    http://www.schoolbook.org/2013/06/03/anti-testing-supporters-feel-momentum/

Test Boycott Gains Parents' Support
    https://newyork.newsday.com/news/nation/boycott-of-latest-round-of-standardized-tests-gets-push-from-hv-parents-1.5399952

Why My Family is Boycotting the Field Tests
    http://www.schoolbook.org/2013/06/03/why-my-family-is-boycotting-the-field-tests/

Blog Critical of Testing Overkill "Offends" NY Ed. Commissioner's Office
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/02/the-story-of-an-offending-blog-post/

New Teachers Assessments Being Developed for Art, Gym, etc.-- be sure to check out the great reader comments
    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/nyregion/new-york-teacher-assessments-extend-to-art-and-gym.html?_r=0
    http://www.marketplace.org/topics/life/education/new-york-all-teachers-will-be-graded

Grading Teachers on Test Scores: A Fundamentally Unsound Idea
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/06/04/patrick-welsh-on-standardize-tests-and-teacher-evaluations/2390143/

See FairTest Fact Sheet: Why Teacher Evaluation Shouldn't Rest on Student Test Scores
    http://www.fairtest.org/sites/default/files/Teacher-Evaluation-FactSheet-10-12.pdf

Scrapping Seattle MAP Test Was Important First Step Toward Assessment Reform
     http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2021098062_hagopiancampbellopedxml.html

Indiana School Leaders Question Validity of Disrupted Computerized Test
    http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/jun/03/evsc-hedy-herey/

Not Passing The Test -- High-Stakes Exams Fail Key Questions
     http://newsandtribune.com/opinion/x609270329/ABBOTT-The-ISTEP-Not-passing-the-test

Common Core Testing Claims Are False
    http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130602/EDIT02/306020019/Common-Core-s-claims-false?nclick_check=1

• See FairTest Fact Sheet: Common Core Assessments: More Tests But Not Much Better
  http://www.fairtest.org/common-core-assessments-more-tests-not-much-better

New Data Shows School "Reformers" Are Full of It
    http://www.salon.com/2013/06/03/instead_of_a_war_on_teachers_how_about_one_on_poverty/

Asking the Right Questions About Education
     http://smartblogs.com/education/2013/05/29/revising-the-questions-that-shape-learning/

Ken Robinson: How to Escape Education's Death Valley
     http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_death_valley.html

The Toll High-Stakes Tests Take on Non-Traditional Learners (and Their Teachers)
     http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/30/the-toll-high-stakes-tests-take-on-non-traditional-learners-and-their-teachers/