Excellent advice from FairTest

[Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>]

At his town hall meeting in Martinez, CA on 
Saturday, Education Committee Chair George Miller 
unfortunately revealed that he still does not 
understand the full extent of the harm that has 
been done by NCLB.  He repeated the fallacious 
argument that "Black and Hispanic" students are 
now more "proficient" than before NCLB, 
suggesting that he buys the Bush administration's 
hype.  Although he acknowledged the prevalence of 
teaching to the test, he made statements 
throughout the discussion that showed he does not 
really intend to reduce the weight of the single 
standardized test score in the "revamped" version of NCLB.

I suggest that in your communications with 
legislators you put special emphasis on the 
weakness of any standardized test as a measure of 
learning, and the inappropriatness of using these 
tests as the principal instrument to evaluate 
teachers and schools.  Lately, the well 
intentioned politicians are promoting the "growth 
model" or value-added model as the way to build 
fairness and accuracy into accountability; but 
this means that teachers will be evaluated by 
their students' test score increases over 
time.  This model retains the high stakes test as 
the single measure of learning, and will likely 
INCREASE teaching to the test, because teachers 
will be told that this is a fair system and they 
can no longer use "outside factors" as an alibi for low scores.

A child is not a test score.

> ACTION ALERT
> Ensure U.S. House Really Overhauls NCLB
>
> The House Education Committee is about to adopt 
> language for the next version of the federal 
> Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)/No 
> Child Left Behind (NCLB). [Committee members are 
> expected to vote on a Democratic leadership bill 
> (yet to be unveiled) before Congress takes its 
> August recess -- that is, in the next 2-3 weeks.]
>
> Now is the time for assessment reformers like 
> you to act. The next steps include:
>
> 1) Keep pressure on the leadership, especially 
> Chairman George Miller. Demand they make needed 
> major improvements (as outlined below) and allow 
> substantial time for discussion and amendments. 
> Tell your Rep. to deliver this message to Mr. 
> Miller. (See contact info at the bottom.)
>
> 2) If your Representative is on the Education 
> Committee, ask her or him to vote ?No? to any 
> bill or parts of the bill that do not make 
> sufficient changes in the law. Ask them to 
> propose amendments to advance the key changes 
> and to take leadership on these issues.
>
> 3) Focus on key changes needed in the law:
>
> ? End unrealistic "Adequate Yearly Progress" 
> (AYP) requirements. Expect schools to make 
> reasonable progress based on real-world rates of student improvement.
>
> ? Require testing once each in elementary, 
> middle and high school, scrapping requirement to 
> test in grades 3-8. Over-testing takes time away 
> from real teaching and learning.
>
> ? Assess academic progress using multiple 
> sources of evidence, not just standardized test 
> scores. Provide funding to help states and 
> districts develop locally-based, performance and 
> classroom assessments to improve teaching and 
> learning as well as accountability.
>
> ? Replace the test-and-punish approach with 
> support for improving educational quality. 
> Expect all schools to take reasonable steps to 
> improve, including use of high-quality 
> professional development and strong parental 
> involvement. Replace current sanctions-based 
> system with a focus on targeted assistance.
>
> 4) Get other people and organizations to fax, 
> call, or write Congress. Tell your 
> Representatives and Senators to rely on the 
> <http://www.fairtest.org/joint%20statement%20civil%20rights%20grps%2010-21-04.html>Joint 
> Organizational Statement on NCLB and the 
> legislative recommendations of the Forum on 
> Educational Accountability to guide their votes 
> on reauthorization of NLCB. 
> <http://www.fairtest.org/FEA_Home.html>http://www.fairtest.org/FEA_Home.html.
>
> House contact info:
>
>
> Rep. George Miller, Chair, House Education 
> Committee, 2181 Rayburn, Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-3725; fax 202-226-5398.
>
> Find your Rep at 
> <http://www.fairtest.org/nattest/www.house.gov>www.house.gov 
> and Ed. committee members at 
> <http://edlabor.house.gov/about/members.shtml%20>http://edlabor.house.gov/about/members.shtml 
>
> http://www.fairtest.org/nattest/ActTodayNCLB0607.html