Resistance to Testing

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Image of a test sheet.
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Assessment Standardized Tests Could Be in Jeopardy in Wake of Biden Decisions, Experts Say
Has the Biden administration shored up statewide tests this year only to risk undermining long-term public backing for them?
Andrew Ujifusa, July 21, 2021
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6 min read
Image of a student at a desk.
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Assessment How Two Years of Pandemic Disruption Could Shake Up the Debate Over Standardized Testing
Moves to opt out of state tests and change how they're given threaten to reignite fights over high-stakes assessments.
Evie Blad, March 5, 2021
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9 min read
BRIC ARCHIVE
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Every Student Succeeds Act Anti-Test Movement Slows to a Crawl
ESSA locked federal testing mandates in place, participation is ticking up in key states, and the opt-out movement has been overshadowed by funding, teacher pay, and other battles.
Alyson Klein, July 23, 2018
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7 min read
Assessment Video Deep Dive Discussion: Assessment and Testing
In this half-hour discussion, Education Week veteran reporter Catherine Gewertz facilitates a conversation with school and district-level leaders around testing. Among the issues tackled: the pressure to reduce testing, federal accountability around testing, and alignment. Catherine Gewertz is a reporter covering assessment and pathways from the middle grades to high school and beyond. Since joining Education Week in 1999, she has been the lead common-core reporter and has covered urban schools.
April 20, 2018
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26:57
Meredith Barber poses with her daughter, Gabrielle Schwager, 10, at their home in Penn Valley, Pa. Barber, a psychologist from the Philadelphia suburb of Penn Valley, has decided Gabrielle will not be taking the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment this year and has been encouraging other parents to opt out as well.
Meredith Barber, a Penn Valley, Penn., psychologist, decided in 2015 that her 10-year-old daughter Gabrielle Schwager would not take the state assessments that year.
Matt Slocum/AP
Every Student Succeeds Act Inside ESSA Plans: How Do States Want to Handle Testing Opt-Outs?
Opting out of mandated tests has been a hot potato for years, and states are taking various approaches to the issue in their Every Student Succeeds Act plans.
Andrew Ujifusa, October 2, 2017
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2 min read
Assessment Opinion Does ESSA Actually Require 95% Participation on State Assessments?
While the ESSA unquestionably requires the states to administer yearly assessments in mathematics and reading, it does not actually require 95% student participation on those tests. Instead, as currently written, it requires 95% student participation on some other, completely different set of nonexistent assessments. Congress might want to consider hiring a few more proofreaders.
Nancy Flanagan, September 30, 2016
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4 min read
Every Student Succeeds Act States With High 'Opt Out' Rates Brace for Possible Penalties
The U.S. Department of Education hasn't decided how to penalize states where large numbers of students have opted-out of annual tests.
Daarel Burnette II, August 23, 2016
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4 min read
Betty Rosa, seated, is applauded after being elected chancellor of the New York board of regents during a meeting last month in Albany. Rosa, a former superintendent from the Bronx, has voiced sympathy for the testing opt-out movement.
Betty Rosa, seated, is applauded after being elected chancellor of the New York board of regents during a meeting last month in Albany. Rosa, a former superintendent from the Bronx, has voiced sympathy for the testing opt-out movement.
Mike Groll/AP
Standards & Accountability Leaders in N.Y. Flip-Flop on Common Core, Opt-Outs
Pressure stemming from the testing opt-out movement has led to some heated debate in the Empire State involving standards and the use of student scores in teacher evaluations.
Daarel Burnette II, April 12, 2016
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7 min read
Assessment For States, Question Is: To Time Tests or Not?
While New York state recently opted to drop time limits on its tests, Texas is ending a 35-year policy of untimed testing.
Liana Loewus, February 23, 2016
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6 min read
Every Student Succeeds Act Test-Participation Mandate Puts States on Spot
Despite the rise of the testing opt-out movement, states are still on the hook to assure that 95 percent of eligible students take state exams in English/language arts and math.
Andrew Ujifusa, January 26, 2016
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6 min read
Every Student Succeeds Act Opt-Out Activists Aim to Build on Momentum in States
Though testing mandates remain under ESSA, those aiming to rein in assessments say the new law's flexibility for states may work to their advantage.
Andrew Ujifusa, January 14, 2016
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7 min read
Every Student Succeeds Act Opt-Out Rates Could Significantly Distort State Accountability in ESEA Deal
There's a test-participation requirement in the draft to reauthorize federal education law, but that doesn't tell the full story.
Andrew Ujifusa, November 23, 2015
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3 min read
Bill Gates gives his keynote address at the U.S. Education Learning Forum put on by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Bellevue, Wash.
Bill Gates gives his keynote address at the U.S. Education Learning Forum put on by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Bellevue, Wash.
Ian C. Bates for Education Week
Teaching Profession For Gates, Same Agenda Draws Support, Critiques
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's plan to stay the course on education won praise for steadfastness and renewed some old criticism.
Liana Loewus, October 13, 2015
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7 min read
Education Funding State Tests Due Fresh Scrutiny as Peer Review Relaunches
The U.S. Department of Education has relaunched one of the most powerful tools it wields over states' academic standards and assessments: the "peer review" process that had been suspended for three years.
Catherine Gewertz & Alyson Klein, October 6, 2015
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5 min read
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