Fwd: [arn2-strategy] FairTest react to Spellings speech

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

  From: "Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>

  Date: Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:52:46 AM US/Pacific

  To: <ndsgroup@yahoogroups.com>, <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>, "ARN-L"
  <arn-l@interversity.org>, "arn2-strategy" <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>

  Subject: [arn2-strategy] FairTest react to Spellings speech

  Reply-To: arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com

  Below is FT react to Sec Spellings speech on new regs for NLCB. Below that
  are links to her speech and to proposed regs. Monty

  FairTest - National Center for Fair & Open Testing

                                                                                     for
  further information contact:

                                                                                     Jesse
  Mermell/Monty Neill  (617) 864-4810
                                                                                                   or Robert
  Schaeffer (239) 395-6773

  for immediate release, Tuesday, April 22, 2008 after Sec. Spellings’ Detroit
  speech

  NCLB ADMINISTRATIVE TINKERING FAILS TO ADDRESS FLAWED

  “TEST-AND-PUNISH” POLICIES INITIATED BY NATION AT RISK MISDIAGNOSIS;

  25-YEAR TESTING FIXATION HAS NOT IMPROVED ED. QUALITY OR EQUITY

       Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings should mark the 25th
  anniversary of A Nation at Risk by seeking an overhaul of the “No Child Left
  Behind” (NCLB) law, which stemmed from the report’s misdiagnosis of
  educational problems. Instead, the administrative changes she proposed today
  fail to address the deep flaws in NCLB, according to the National Center for
  Fair & Open Testing (FairTest).

       “A Nation at Risk launched the country’s high-stakes testing movement,”
  explained FairTest Executive Director Jesse Mermell. “The resulting
  test-and-punish policies have not led to significant improvements in the
  quality of public education. That’s particularly true for the minority,
  low-income, disabled and immigrant students society has left behind.”

       “The major problem in U.S. schools was not the ’rising tide of
  mediocrity’ blamed by A Nation at Risk,” added FairTest Deputy Director Dr.
  Monty Neill. “Then and now a yawning gap in educational opportunity dragged
  down academic achievement.”

       “National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data demonstrate the
  failure of NCLB, the latest phase of the over-testing trend,” Dr. Neill
  continued. “Since it became law, progress has slowed or stopped entirely in
  both reading and math. That's because repetitive drilling for tests
  undermines high-quality learning.”

       “It’s time for a different approach,” FairTest’s Mermell concluded.
  “Government must mandate fewer standardized tests. Instead, we should help
  teachers use high-quality assessment tools to diagnose student needs and
  improve learning. Schools need better support, not counter-productive
  sanctions.”

       The Forum on Educational Accountability (FEA), chaired by FairTest, has
  offered detailed recommendations for overhauling NCLB. FEA’s proposals are
  based on the Joint Organizational Statement on NCLB, signed by more than 140
  national education, civil rights, religious, disability, civic and labor
  groups.

  - - 3 0 - -

  Proposals for overhauling NCLB are online at www.fairtest.org  and
  www.edaccountability.org

  ----------------------

  - Spellings speech is at
  http://www.ed.gov/print/news/speeches/2008/04/04222008.html (in printable
  format)

  - links to proposed regs in various levels of detail are at
  http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/reg/proposal/index.html

  Monty Neill, Ed.D.

  Deputy Director

  FairTest

  342 Broadway

  Cambridge, MA 02139

  617-864-4810 x 101;  fax 617-497-2224

  monty@fairtest.org

  http://www.fairtest.org

  Donate: https://secure.entango.com/servlet/donate/MnrXjT8MQqk

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