If you are a proponent of testing, please take the following test: 1) Do you think public education is currently fulfilling its purpose in the U.S.? [If you answer "No," please continue.] 2) Did you know that public schools began to depend heavily on testing in the early 2oth century? [If you answer "Yes," please […]
NY: Calling on You to Stop Field Testing
May 15, 2013 By 2 Comments
In three weeks, students at over 3,600 schools in New York State will receive a nasty surprise. They mistakenly believe that, for this school year at least, they are done taking tests. When they least expect it, the number 2 pencils and bubble sheets will reappear. When I was in elementary school, June brought Field […]
End NJ Tax Subsidies for High Stakes Testing “Monster” Pearson
May 6, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Pearson, Inc: Bad tax subsidies for bad education policies. End NJ Tax Subsidies for High Stakes Testing Giant Pearson, Inc. TUESDAY, May 14TH, 12:00PM Hoboken River Ferry, 1401 Frank Sinatra Drive, Hoboken NJ • End corporate welfare and fund our public schools! • Protest tax subsidy ‘payoffs for layoffs’ to test publishing giant Pearson! […]
Why Are We in “the Age of Infinite Examination”?
April 27, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Within the perpetual education and education reform debates, the topics of poverty and testing are central themes (poverty is no excuse, and better tests are always being promised), but we too often are missing the key elements that should be addressed in the dynamic that exists between poverty and testing. Please read the full discussion […]
Texas STAAR Guarantees Failure of Special Ed Students
April 26, 2013 By 5 Comments
Not hyperbole, but sad and inhumane fact. The headline from the Dallas Morning News April 22 was New STAAR test standards guarantee some Texas special education students will fail The guaranteed failure of the most vulnerable students has long been a fact in Texas and elsewhere, but for the State now to admit as much […]
The Overuse of “Overuse”
April 23, 2013 By 1 Comment
Eight years ago when I started Schools Matter, Texas had four high stakes tests that high school students had to pass to get a diploma. Most recently, they devised plans to add 11 more. When parents and teachers gagged, the state Legislature began to waver, so that now it looks like they will only add […]
The New Abolitionists
April 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Offered on Thursday at Arne Duncan’s workplace: Testing Abolitionists We are engaged in a struggle to abolish high stakes standardized tests and to bring back local public control to a public school system that serves the needs of all children who choose it. Resistance is growing among teachers, parents, students, legislators, and unions (at least […]
Perversion
March 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment
From Corpus Christie’s Caller.com by Ray McMurrey: CORPUS CHRISTI — Exiting Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott caught headlines before leaving office in 2012 when he claimed that high-stakes testing in Texas has become a “perversion.” Thank you Robert Scott for telling the truth. Testing begins this week and the perversion is upon us. The public […]
Students Gather in Chicago to Discuss Testing Boycott Success
March 26, 2013 By Leave a Comment
MA Resistance to High Stakes Grows Among Professors
March 5, 2013 By 2 Comments
Please share this widely. JH__________________ Dear friends and colleagues, Thank you once again for supporting the Massachusetts Statement Against High-Stakes Testing. We wanted you to know that on February 19th, we sent out this press release to the MA Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, as well as to state and national media outlets, education reporters, and […]
The Ends Do Not Justify the Mean(ness)
February 25, 2013 By 3 Comments
Amputation is an instant and effective weight-loss strategy, but I don’t recommend it. Mathematica Policy Research releases a new report on Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) charter schools Tuesday, February 26, 2013: “The new KIPP evaluation covers 41 KIPP middle schools in 13 states and in the District of Columbia.” Let me state for the […]
Texas Plan Would Leave Burden of Racist and Classist Tests on the Poor
In an attempt to cool the political heat being felt from middle class parents across Texas who are fed up with the miseducative state testing system, state legislators are considering a plan that would allow children of influential parents to escape the annual ritualized abuse of high stakes tests. In situations where high test scores […]