FairTest
\nNational Center for Fair & Open Testing<\/p>\n
for further information:<\/p>\n
Dr. Monty Neill (617) 477-9792<\/p>\n
Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773<\/p>\n
for immediate release Monday, January 14, 2013<\/p>\n
NATIONAL ASSESSMENT REFORM LEADERS ENDORSE<\/p>\n
SEATTLE TEACHERS\u2019 SCHOOL TEST BOYCOTT;<\/p>\n
CALL FOR MORE EDUCATORS, PARENTS TO \u201cJOIN IN\u201d<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s leading testing reform organization today announced its support for the boycott of Seattle Public Schools\u2019 Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) exam launched by teachers at Garfield High School. National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) Executive Director Dr. Monty Neill said, \u201cChildren across the U.S. suffer from far too much standardized testing that is misused to judge students, teachers and schools. We applaud Garfield High educators who refused to administer these useless exams and urge others to join in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Neill explained, \u201cSeattle requires administration of the MAP tests three times per year. This eliminates days of valuable teaching time and ties up the school\u2019s computer labs for weeks. The tests are used to judge teachers even though they are not aligned with the state\u2019s standards and not instructionally helpful. The Northwest Evaluation Association, which makes the test, says the MAPs are not accurate enough to evaluate individual teachers. No wonder some Seattle parents began opting their children out of these pointless tests even before the teachers\u2019 boycott.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNationally, students are inundated with tests far beyond the \u2018No Child Left Behind\u2019 (NCLB) requirement to assess students annually in reading and math in grades 3-8 and once in high school,\u201d Dr. Neill continued. \u201cStates and especially large city districts have piled on many more tests. For example, Chicago tests kindergarteners 14 or more times per year. Many of these tests were added to obtain federal NCLB waivers, which force states and districts to impose more exams so they can judge teachers by student scores.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to FairTest, the high stakes attached to tests have led to narrowing curriculum, teaching to the test, score inflation and cheating scandals. Despite the focus on tests, scores gains on the independent National Assessment of Educational Progress have slowed since the 2002 start of NCLB and are well below pre-NCLB score increases. Score gaps between whites and African Americans and Latinos have stopped narrowing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh-stakes testing is undermining the quality of U.S. schools and the education our children deserve,\u201d Dr. Neill concluded. \u201cTeachers and parents who boycott standardized exams are taking the lead to reduce over-testing and the consequences attached to it. President Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the Congress, governors, state legislators, and local school officials need to heed these voices and stop imposing unnecessary and educational harmful testing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FairTest National Center for Fair & Open Testing for further information: Dr. Monty Neill (617) 477-9792 Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773 for immediate release Monday, January 14, 2013 NATIONAL ASSESSMENT REFORM LEADERS ENDORSE SEATTLE TEACHERS\u2019 SCHOOL TEST BOYCOTT; CALL FOR MORE EDUCATORS, PARENTS TO \u201cJOIN IN\u201d The country\u2019s leading testing reform organization today announced its support […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2152,148],"tags":[438256,48908,540478,21,540479,1572067,205249],"class_list":["post-3900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education-reform","category-testing","tag-fairtest","tag-map","tag-opt-out","tag-seattle","tag-test-boycott","tag-testing","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3900"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3903,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3900\/revisions\/3903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}