FairTest’s “Testing Reform Victories 2015” Report: The uprising against the testocracy takes off!
The National Center for Fair & Open Testing, know as FairTest, just released its wonderfulreport on the immense growth around the country of the movement in opposition to the abuses of standardized testing. The victories included universities getting rid of their SAT/ACT requirement, states dropping the requirement for an exit exam to graduate from high school, and hundreds of thousands of families opting their children out of harmful high-stakes tests. As Fair Test revealed in a press release today,Around the U.S., well over half a million public school students refused to take standardized exams during the 2015 testing season, according to a preliminary tally released today. The count by the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), a leader of the national assessment reform movement, is based on news reports and detailed surveys by local activists.Among the largest state opt-out figures (with sources):– 240,000 New York (news reports and New York State Allies for Public Education counts)– 110,000+ New Jersey (Save Our Schools New Jersey)– 100,000 Colorado (Chalkbeat Colorado and SEEK for Cherry Creek)– 50,000+ Washington State (news reports)– ~20,000 Oregon (news reports)– ~20,000 Illinois (More Than a Score)– 10,000 New Mexico (news reports)– ? ? Other states not yet reporting“The opt-out movement and other assessment reform initiatives exploded across the country this year as more parents said ‘enough is enough’ to high-stakes testing overkill,” explained FairTest Executive Director Monty Neill. “If anything, the estimate of half a million opt-outs in 2015 is low because many states have denied requests to make test refusal data public. This intense grassroots pressure is beginning to force policymakers to roll back standardized exam misuse and overuse.”
It’s hard to describe the elation I experienced as I read in the FairTest report about one victory after another for communities around the nation in the struggle to demand that education is more than a score.
Over the past several years I been writing, speaking, organizing, and doing everything I could think of to demand that critical thinking and creativity be allowed back into our schools. Ever since my colleagues at Garfield High School boycotted the MAP test in 2013 and helped to inspire this uprising, much of my life has been given to this great struggle against the testocracy–and it is beyond words for me to see these standardizing despots now on the run as families around the nation stand up to defend their children and public education.
Best of all is the educated prediction that FairTest Public Education Director Bob Schaeffer made today: “In the 2016 testing season, we expect many more families to refuse to take part in FairTest’s “Testing Reform Victories 2015” Report: The uprising against the testocracy takes off! | I AM AN EDUCATOR:
