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Interversity Quotes"I think it's time to ask the Standardistos: Where's the test for compassion? For honesty? For curiosity? For moral commitment? Until they can answer, let's tell them to shut up." —Susan Ohanian (One Size Fits Few: The Folly of Educational Standards) Interversity ProjectsEchoes of Orwell:The purpose of this webforum is to promote a lively discussion among students and faculty alike about George Orwell's 1984 and the parallels or echoes found in today's society. |
[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Author Index][Thread Index] Fw: FairTest Examiner Newsletter July 2008
FairTest Examiner Newsletter July 2008 Here is the latest FairTest Examiner e-letter version - full stories are at http://www.fairtest.org/newsletter/current - or link to specific stories from the e-letter, below. You are receiving this email from FairTest because you (or someone acting on your behalf) subscribed to our newsletter, signed our petition or otherwise requested contact from FairTest. We will never share your address with anyone. You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails. FairTest Examiner July 2008 In this issue Please Support FairTest Welcome from Jesse Mermell, FairTest Executive Director New FairTest Video Test-Optional Movement Continues to Accelerate Pennsylvanians Force Delay in Grad Test Proposal; Battles Continue in Other States "New" SAT - Same as Old Test, Only Longer and More Expensive Proposals for Overhauling NCLB National Urban League on NCLB GMAT Cheating Scandal Illustrates Computerized Testing Vulnerability Individual Acts of Resistance Changes to State Assessment Systems Georgia Test Fiasco Leads to Some Changes New NCLB Regulations Proposed Childhood vs NCLB Researchers Document High-Stakes Testing Damage, Shortcomings Please Support FairTest FairTest Mission Statement The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) advances quality education and equal opportunity by promoting fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial evaluations of students, teachers and schools. FairTest also works to end the misuses and flaws of testing practices that impede those goals. FairTest's Board and Staff FairTest is funded with support from the Bay and Paul Foundation, Ford Foundation, United Church of Christ, Wiener Educational Foundation, Working Assets, Zarrow Foundation and individual contributors. Find out more.... -------------------------------------------------------------------- Quick Links... a.. Our Website b.. Support FairTest today! a.. Welcome from Jesse Mermell, FairTest Executive Director It was a very productive summer for FairTest. The past several months have been marked by exciting progress as we work to end the misuses of testing at all levels of education. Read more... a.. New FairTest Video FairTest: You Can't Judge Learning with a Standardized Test is a short video produced for FairTest available on YouTube. Read More... a.. Test-Optional Movement Continues to Accelerate Four more selective, bachelor-degree granting institutions led by Smith College and Wake Forest University dropped admissions testing requirements this spring. The new policies bring the total number of test-optional schools to 760 Read More... a.. Pennsylvanians Force Delay in Grad Test Proposal; Battles Continue in Other States Fearing the Pennsylvania legislature would block the State Board of Education's plan to impose high-school graduation tests, Governor Ed Rendell crafted a deal with the legislature to fund creation of "voluntary" end-of-course exams and postpone for a year any regulatory mandate. Strong opposition from legislators, school boards, teachers, administrators, parents and others forced this retreat. Meanwhile, exit exams continue to be proposed and debated around the country. Read More... a.. "New" SAT - Same as Old Test, Only Longer and More Expensive Contrary to the test-maker's promises, the "new" three-part SAT, introduced in March 2005, has not proven to be a significantly more accurate or less biased predictor of first-year undergraduate grades than its predecessor. The source of this damaging information: two reports by the exam's own sponsor, the College Board. Read More... a.. Proposals for Overhauling NCLB Efforts to influence the direction of the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) continue, though Congressional action has stalled for this year. Of particular note, the Forum for Education and Democracy (FED) issued Democracy at Risk: The Need for a New Federal Policy in Education. FairTest's Monty Neill article on overhauling NCLB appeared in Rethinking Schools, and the Economic Policy Institute sponsored a position statement saying the nation must look beyond schools if learning outcomes are to improve. Read More... a.. National Urban League on NCLB Some 20 national civil rights organizations have signed the Joint Organizational Statement on No Child Left Behind, which calls for a major overhaul of the federal law, refuting claims that civil rights groups oppose fundamental changes to NCLB. Among them is the National Urban League (NUL), which also issued its own recommendations that substantially overlap with the Joint Statement. In particular, NUL says, "Replace Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) with a Comprehensive Accountability Framework that can more accurately capture student performance using multiple measures of achievement." Read More... a.. GMAT Cheating Scandal Illustrates Computerized Testing Vulnerability More than 6,000 business school applicants who used Scoretop.com to prepare for the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) may face cancellation of their scores because the site posted actual exam questions while they still were being administered. The incident demonstrates a fundamental flaw of computer adaptive tests, which reuse the same item pools for weeks at a time. Read More... a.. Individual Acts of Resistance Individual teachers, parents and students sometimes respond to high-stakes testing by putting themselves on the line. Recent examples include Washington science teacher Carl Chew's refusal to administer the WASL, North Carolina teacher Doug Ward's refusal to give his students that state test, Craig Haller's crusade to shield his disabled daughter Hannah from testing, students in the South Bronx who decided as a group they would not take a practice test, and a Florida assistant principal who resigned rather than comply with unethical test practices. Read More... a.. Changes to State Assessment Systems Several states are moving to overhaul their assessment and accountability systems. Activity includes initial movement toward development of a new system in Ohio, a disappointing outcome on high-stakes testing in Massachusetts, a positive change in North Carolina and a negative one in Nebraska. Read More... a.. Georgia Test Fiasco Leads to Some Changes Massive failures on the Georgia state social studies test prompted a teacher panel to call for major revisions to state standards. Scores for this year's tests were tossed out after 71% of 6th graders and 76% of 7th graders failed. But math tests on which failure rates were nearly as high were not scrapped, forcing thousands of students to attend hastily organized summer schools to avoid grade retention. Because final promotion decisions are locally-based, it remains unclear how many children will be retained. Read More... a.. New NCLB Regulations Proposed The U.S. Department of Education has proposed sweeping changes to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) regulations, some of which could further damage to schools. It has given six states permission to modify their sanctions, an action that appears contradictory to some of the proposed regulations. Read More... a.. Childhood vs NCLB Read Susan Ohanian's new book, When Childhood Collides with NCLB, for her righteous anger over what is done to children in the name of school improvement and equity, for the pointed humor and puncturing of myths, for the accumulation of evidence of the damage being done. Consider her empathy for teachers caught in the testing machine, but her frustration that teachers too rarely act on what they know. Note the almost impenetrable bureaucrat-speak of corporate shills for high-stakes testing she . Read More... a.. Researchers Document High-Stakes Testing Damage, Shortcomings Researchers continue to find that high-stakes testing has damaging consequences such as decreased graduation rates, especially for low-income and minority group students. Survey results show that employers do not find test scores meaningful for evaluating job candidates. And a study evaluated the sources of achievement gaps in part by asking how students chose answers on a fifth grade science exam. Read More... :: examiner@fairtest.org :: http://www.fairtest.org Forward email This email was sent to monty@fairtest.org, by examiner@fairtest.org Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribeT | Privacy Policy. Email Marketing by FairTest | 342 Broadway | Cambridge | MA | 02139
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