NPE Forms Coalition of Education and Civil Rights Groups to Oppose High-Stakes Testing
We, the below undersigned organizations, oppose high-stakes testing because we believe these tests are causing harm to students, to public schools, and to the cause of educational equity. High-stakes standardized tests, rather than reducing the opportunity gap, have been used to rank, sort, label, and punish Black and Latino students, and recent immigrants to this country.
We oppose high-stakes tests because:
There is no evidence that these tests contribute to the quality of education, have led to improved educational equity in funding or programs, or have helped close the “achievement gap.”
High-stakes testing has become intrusive in our schools, consuming huge amounts of time and resources, and narrowing instruction to focus on test preparation.
Many of these tests have never been independently validated or shown to be reliable and/or free from racial and ethnic bias.
High-stakes tests are being used as a political weapon to claim large numbers of students are failing, to close neighborhood public schools, and to fire teachers, all in the effort to disrupt and privatize the public education system.
The alleged benefit of annual testing as mandated by No Child Left Behind was to unveil the achievement gaps, and by doing so, close them. Yet after more than a decade of high-stakes testing this has not happened. Instead, thousands of predominantly poor and minority neighborhood schools —the anchors of communities— have been closed.
As the Seattle NAACP recently stated, “Using standardized tests to label Black people and immigrants as lesser—while systematically underfunding their schools—has a long and ugly history. It is true we need accountability measures, but that should start with politicians being accountable to fully funding education and ending the opportunity gap. …The use of high-stakes tests has become part of the problem, rather than a solution.”
We agree.
Yours sincerely,
Network for Public Education
50th No More - Action Now - Alaska NAACP - Alliance for Quality Education - Badass Teachers Association
Better Georgia - Chicago Teachers Union - Children Are More Than Test Scores - Class Size Matters
Community Voices for Education - Concerned Parents of Franklin County, Tennessee - Defending the Early Years
Delaware PTA - EmpowerEd Georgia - FairTest - First Focus Campaign for Children - HispanEduca
Indiana Coalition for Public Education - Indiana PTA - Indiana State Teachers Association - Journey for Justice
Metamorphosis Teaching Learning Communities - More Than A Score - NE Indiana Friends of Public Ed
Newark Parents Union - Newark Students Union - NJ Teacher Activist Group - NY State Allies for Public Ed
Opt Out Orlando Oregon - NAACP Parents Across America - Providence Students Union - Rethinking Schools
Save Michigan’s Public Schools - Save Our Schools March - Save Our Schools NJ - Seattle King County NAACP
Students United for Public Ed - Tennesseans Reclaiming Educational Excellence - The Coalition for Better Ed
The Opt Out Florida Network - The Plainedge Federation of Teachers - United Opt Out - United Opt Out Michigan
Voices For Education - Waco NAACP - Washington State NAACP - We Are Camden - Young Teachers Collective
NPE has formed a coalition of Education and Civil Rights groups that have taken a stand on high-stakes testing by signing on to the statement Resistance to High Stakes Tests Serves the Cause of Equity in Education authored by Seattle activist and teacher Jesse Hagopian and NPE
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As the Senate and House prepare to vote on their respective ESEA reauthorization bills it is critical that we make a strong case against the high-stakes testing that is causing harm to students, to public schools, and to the cause of educational equity.
You can use this simple form to add the name of your organization to our growing coalition.
