Proposed Bill of Rights for Test Takers

[Harold Berlak <hberlak@yahoo.com>]

Proposed Bill of Rights for Test Takers: Family and Student Testing  
Protection Act

Purpose:  to protect students, families and local communities from  
abusive assessment practices, violations of due process and civil rights
Problem I:

Growing numbers of students are being denied access to programs and  
schools, or barred from receiving high school diplomas or graduation  
certificates based solely on standardized test scores.  These  
students are disproportionately poor, African American, and from  
immigrant families whose home language is not English. There are also  
significant numbers of students, including exceptionally talented  
ones, who do badly on conventional standardized tests.

Remedies:

1. The use of standardized tests as the sole or primary basis for  
determining student access to advanced  programs, schools, and  
awarding of  certificates or diplomas is prohibited. Non- 
standardized, qualitative modes of assessment should be available to  
students or particular groups of students whose education is better  
served by alternatives to standardized tests.

 2.  An Educational Impact Report is required prior to imposition a   
system of assessment or particular method of assessment by a  
governing authority. This report would seek to determine immediate  
and longer term effects on students, schools, and local communities  
(disaggregated by race, gender and family income), and to assess the  
human and material resources required to fulfill the assessment  
requirements.

 3.  Parents have the right to exempt their children from tests and  
assessments that they deem as harmful or inappropriate.  No punitive  
consequences may be applied by governments to students or schools if  
parents choose to exercise their right to exempt a child  from taking  
a particular test or set of tests.



Problem II

Among the more destructive provisions of NCLB and state testing  
regulations is that schools that fail to meet certain numerical  
targets set by standardized tests scores face being ‘restructured’ or  
dismantled. The are numerous documented cases of exemplary schools  
that have closed or are under threat of closure based on student  
standardized test scores.

 Remedy:

No school or program within a school may be disestablished or  
restructured based solely or primarily on rankings of students on  
standardized tests.


Problem III

The pressures on schools to raise standardized test scores,  
particularly those that serve poor and children of color, narrows the  
curriculum, ignoring crucial areas of children’s  and adolescents’  
development and growth. Among the casualties are music, the arts,  
bilingual education, community internships, civic education, fitness  
and health education.

Remedy:
State and federal governments have the authority to set general  
guidelines and standards under this Act.  However  governments are  
forbidden to mandate local school priorities, or specify curriculum  
content and pedagogy.


Problem IV

The federal government using power it claims under the NCLB  Reading  
First provisions is dictating to states and school districts how  
reading should be taught.  The US Department of Education currently  
approves funding for materials that meet the federal government’s  
interpretation of  the NCLB Reading First provisions.

Remedy:

The determination of good and appropriate practice resides with the  
teachers and local educational authorities.   A legal requirement  
for  ‘scientifically based’ materials and approaches may not be  
construed as granting governments the authority to dictate to  
schools’ personnel policies and expenditures for texts and curriculum  
resources.


Problem V
Parents and students are rarely informed by schools of their rights  
with respect to testing and  assessment.  Information about  test  
content, technical specifications, and methods of analyzing and  
reporting test results are kept secret or withheld from students,  
parents, and the public.

Remedy:

Student and parent testing and assessment rights, including those  
specified in this Act, must be prominently displayed and a good faith  
effort made by teachers and  school officials to inform parents, and  
students of their rights.  Students, parents, and the public have the  
right to be fully informed about what content, skills,  or  
competencies are being assessed.


Harold Berlak
March 21, 2007