“Learning Is More Than a Test Score” Campaign
www.saveourschoolsmarch.org
Learning Is More Than a Test Score Campaign
“Promoting a lifelong love of reading is one of the most important things I do as an English language arts teacher. But we are sacrificing time that could be spent on learning and promoting reading in order to focus on tests that too often are unreliable indicators of student performance, poor quality and full of errors.”—A dedicated New York teacherDear Save Our Schools Supporters…
Those sentiments, which I have heard expressed by so many educators, should be of concern to parents and students, as well. This growing fixation with high-stakes testing in schools is getting in the way of our efforts to educate children in our public schools, and it’s why we are announcing a new phase in our campaign against excessive testing called Learning Is More Than a Test Score.
The campaign is focused on the need to restore a proper balance to our schools and make sure that teaching and learning—not testing—drive classroom instruction so that we can give all children the rich, meaningful public education they deserve. Join our effort by signing our petition.
As we launch this new phase of the campaign, Washington, D.C., is dealing with federal budget issues known as the fiscal cliff. Although Learning Is More than a Test Score is a longer-term campaign, our efforts to reform schools and restore more sensible testing programs and policies will be severely limited if Congress and the White House end up agreeing on approaches to the deficit and taxes that impose huge cuts on public education and other public services. You’ll be hearing more about our efforts in that area, too, as we mount an aggressive effort on Capitol Hill to give voice to the AFT’s views.
This week, I’ll be with other national union leaders on the Hill, and in the following weeks, we’ll bring in activists from around the country. AFT local and state leaders also will be coming to Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, I urge you to visit LearningIsMore.org and join thousands of educators, parents, students and concerned citizens who already are working to de-emphasize tests, and to restore teaching and learning to their proper roles at the forefront of the education process.
Join them in expressing your support for an education system in which assessments play an appropriate role, but one in which teachers have the time they need to help their students think critically and creatively. Add your voice to the growing group that believes learning is more than a test score. Sign the Learning Is More Than a Test Score petition today, and share it with your friends.
In unity, Randi Weingarten AFT President
P.S. Like the Learning Is More Than a Test Score Facebook page and follow the campaign on Twitter.