Congressional Hearings on Testing – The Network For Public Education |

The Network For Public Education | NPE Calls for Congressional Hearings – Full Text:

 Your voice has been HEARD! Congressional hearings on testing announced!

Congressional Hearings on Testing

At the conclusion of NPE's first national conference in Austin, TX we requested that the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee holdhearings to investigate the over-emphasis, misapplication, costs, and poor implementation of high-stakes standardized testing in the nation's K-12 public schools. In our statement we asked 11 essential questions about testing which you can read here.

We asked you to call and write your representatives, and you responded.

You have been heard, and now the Committee has questions of its own.

Senator Lamar Alexander (R) was Secretary of Education under George H.W. Bush, and selected NPE President Diane Ravitch as his Asst. Secretary for Research. Sen. Alexander became the Chair and ranking Republican on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, on January 7, 2015 and now he has questions he wants answered too.

"Every parent, every teacher in 100,000 public schools is asking the question, 'Are there too many tests?' "Alexander said in an interview Thursday. "I don't know the answer. I'm asking the question. And the United States Senate ought to be asking that question as we think about No Child Left Behind."

It has been widely reported that on Tuesday, January 20th, the same day as the State of the Union address, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will indeed hold hearings on testing as part of Sen. Alexander's desire to oversee a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that has been stalled since 2007.

Secretary Duncan unmoved

In a prepared speech yesterday, delivered at Seaton Elementary School in Washington DC, Secretary Arne Duncan made clear that the administration is committed to annual standardized testing.

"All students need to take annual state standardized tests that are aligned to their teacher's classroom instruction in reading and math in grades 3-8 and once in high school." - Arne Duncan, January 12, 2015

The trouble for Secretary Duncan is the tests remain wildly unpopular with parents and teachers, and since the advent of NCLB the focus on testing has done little to raise student achievement or diminish inequities in our schools. Pushback is mounting nationwide with parent groups and teachers unions leading the charge. Opt-out groups are growing exponentially, and are expected to only continue to gain momentum as Common Core aligned PARCC and Smarter Balanced tests are administered for the first time this spring. Secretary Duncan does have allies in his quest to maintain the federal mandate for annual testing, however. Some are likely allies, such as theCouncil of Chief State School Officers and the Business Roundtable, which is "an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies." Some are less likely, including a group of civil rights organizations that released a statement in support of the reauthorization of ESEA, including the need for annual testing. The debate is certain to be lively and passionate, and we want you to be a part of it! NPE will provide frequent updates as information becomes available, so please make sure you like us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter. We will also send newsletters and action alerts as necessary.                WE ARE MANY. THERE IS POWER IN OUR NUMBERS. TOGETHER WE WILL SAVE OUR SCHOOLS.

United Opt Out Holds Fourth Annual Conference, January 16-18    It's not too late! NPE ally UNITED OPT OUT NATIONAL is hosting their fourth annual conference, Standing Up For Action, at the Broward Convention Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. There is still time to register for the conference which runs from January 16th - 18th! Standing Up For Action is a working session for local and national activists, concerned parents, educators, students and all who have a general interest in equitable and quality public education. The conference will include speakers, panelists and group leaders including: Author, Living in Dialogue blogger, and NPE Board Member Anthony Cody Author and educator Sam Anderson Chicago Teachers Union activist Michelle Gunderson Author and University of Southern California Professor Stephen Krashen Massachusetts Teachers Association President Barbara Madeloni FairTest Public Education Director Bob Schaeffer Orange County School Board member Rick Roach City University of New York Professor Ira Shor Youth representatives from Dream Defenders, Baltimore Youth Dreamers, and Detroit BAMN UOO Administrators will also be on hand to sign their newly published book titledAn Activist Handbook for the Education Revolution: United Opt Out's Test of Courage. Three-day attendees are asked to register in advance here and one day attendees to RSVP on Facebook and register upon arrival.

Support The Network for Public Education The Network for Public Education is an advocacy group whose goal is to fight to protect, preserve and strengthen our public school system, an essential institution in a democratic society. Over the past year, donations to The Network for Public Education helped us put on our first National Conference, and the first PUBLIC Education Nation. In the coming year, we will hold more events, webinars, and work on the issues that our members and donors care about the most! To Make a Donation, go to the NPE website and click the donate button. We accept donations using PayPal, the most trusted site used to make on-line payments.