The Great “Opt Out”

Email from Bob Schaeffer . Tuesday, April 14, 2015.  http://www.fairtest.org/

Today is huge for assessment reform with the U.S. Senate education committee starting markup of legislation to overhaul "No Child Left Behind," tens of thousands of students planning to opt-out of the first day of standardized exams in New York State, and sentencing scheduled in the Atlanta cheating case that has focused attention on damage from the fixation on test scores.

Here's a sampling of just one week's news from across the nation. Please continue sending us your clips and let us know if FairTest can help your local campaigns in any way

U.S. Senate Rewrite of "No Child Left Behind" Does Not Go Far Enough, http://www.washingtonpost.com/…/why-the-senates-proposed-n…/
Congress Many Years Behind in Move to Overhaul NCLB
http://www.npr.org/…/senators-try-to-revise-no-child-left-b…
Is It a "Civil Right" to Take Federally Mandated Tests?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…/7f1b731c-d3e4-11e4-a62f-ee7…

California Parents Can Choose to Opt Out of Common Core Tests, http://www.kionrightnow.com/…/some-parents-choose-…/32242858

Colorado Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Opt-Out Bill
http://www.denverpost.com/…/colorado-testing-opt-out-bill-w…
Colorado Moms Take Frustration About Standardized Testing to State Capital, http://kdvr.com/…/moms-students-take-frustration-over-stan…/

Connecticut Opt Out Policies Vary Among Districts
http://www.courant.com/…/hc-for-students-who-opt-out-of-sba…

Florida Legislature Sends Governor Bill to Scale Back Testing, http://www.orlandosentinel.com/…/os-florida-house-passes-te…
Florida Congresswoman Calls on State to Ignore Results of This Year's Tests,http://www.tampabay.com/…/us-rep-wilson-urges-flori…/2224816

Georgia Debates "Fair' Punishment for Atlanta Educators in Testing Scandal,http://www.myajc.com/…/whats-fair-punishment-for-ap…/nkqsR/…
Atlanta Cheating Scandal Exposes Everything Wrong with Test-Driven Education,http://www.alternet.org/…/latest-big-city-school-testing-sc…

Louisiana Teachers Should Be Inspiring Students, Not Just Preparing Them for Tests http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/…/letter-teachers-shou…

Maine Students Opt Out of New Standardized Test
http://www.penbaypilot.com/…/camden-hills-parents-ove…/50881

Michigan PTA Calls for Suspension of New State Assessment,http://www.theoaklandpress.com/…/parent-leaders-ask-state-t…
Michigan Parents Pulling Kids Out of State Tests
http://www.minbcnews.com/news/story.aspx…

Nebraska Presses Own Model in "No Child" Overhaul Debate,http://journalstar.com/…/article_3aaf1141-5a12-5f87-b85b-6d…

New Hampshire SmarterBalanced Testing Is Unethical, Invalid,http://www.fosters.com/arti…/20150407/…/150409532/-1/ROCNEWS

New Jersey PARCC Is Part of State's Education Problems, Not a Solution,http://www.njspotlight.com/…/opinion-parcc-is-part-of-the-…/

New Mexico School Counselors Speak Out Against School Testing Overkill http://www.taosnews.com/…/article_ece6d7a8-def0-11e4-997b-d…
New Mexico Opt-Out Numbers Grow http://www.koat.com/…/parcc-opt-out-numbers-for-ap…/32345118

New York Opt Out Movement Grows Rapidly
http://www.syracuse.com/…/optout_movement_grows_across_sta…
Western New York District Opt-Out Rate Tops 56%
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/…/fairport-op…/25575961/
New York Teacher Licensing Test on Trial for Racial Bias, Lack of Relationship to Job http://www.nytimes.com/…/questions-of-bias-are-raised-about…

North Carolina Test-Based School Grades Get an "F"
http://www.newsobserver.com/opin…/oped/article18438515.html

North Dakota Legislatures Can't Reach Agreement on Opt-Out Bill as Grassroots Movement Grows http://bismarcktribune.com/…/article_d74b3f4d-de9c-503c-b56…

Ohio Governor Signs Bill Protecting Students From Negative Consequences of New PARCC Test Scores http://www.timesreporter.com/…/OPINI…/150409376/2011/OPINION
Ohio Educators Give Law Marks to Rollout of New State Tests,http://www.cleveland.com/…/ohio_educators_give_bad_marks.ht…

Oregon Students Lead Movement Against New Tests
http://portlandtribune.com/…/256291-126869-students-board-s…
Oregon Opt-Out Gains Steam, Especially in Portland
http://www.oregonlive.com/…/portland_common_core_testing_o.…

Pennsylvania Suburbs See Twenty-Fold Increase in Opt-Out Requests, http://www.newsworks.org/…/80602-main-line-district-sits-fo…
Pennsylvania Should Not Waste Time With Keystone Exams
http://www.delcotimes.com/…/letter-to-the-editor-don’t waste…

Tennessee Dueling Test Standards Put Squeeze on Teachers and Students, http://www.edweek.org/…/dueling-tests-standards-put-squeeze…

Texas Concedes New Math Test Scores Will Not Count in School, District Ratings, http://www.statesman.com/…/math-staar-tests-for-grad…/nkp2j/
Texas Lawmaker Takes Aim at STAAR Testing
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/…/Fort-Bend-lawmaker-takes-…

Washington State NAACP Joins Critics of New Tests
http://kuow.org/…/naacp-joins-fight-against-new-standardize…
Washington High School Students Boycotting Smarter Balanced Test
http://www.thestranger.com/…/why-roughly-220-garfield-high-…

Congratulations, Pearson Offered Me a Test-Scoring Position
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…/congratulations-to-me-i-ha…/

Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director
FairTest: National Center for Fair & Open Testing
office- (239) 395-6773 fax- (239) 395-6779
mobile- (239) 699-0468
web- http://www.fairtest.org

Posted by: Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>

Source:Educational Freedom Coalition

Comments

A good first step to saving public schools is to close the US Department of Education and all of its grants as unconstitutional and send it to the States according to the 10^th Amendment.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader