» standardized tests

There’s a Train A Coming

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Julie Woestehoff

This opinion piece was shared with us by PAA Florida Affiliate leader Lourdes Pérez Ramírez. She writes, “Here’s an opinion piece that Rick Roach, the only school board member who has had the guts to take a standardized test and failed, and who also has the guts to sternly oppose these high-stake tests, sent me.” There’s a Train a Coming By Rick Roach, Orange County (Florida) School Board Member District 3 I’ve always tried to heed what a wise man once … →

Part 3: High Stakes Testing and Opting Out: The Variables

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Dora Taylor

  The Variables High stakes testing has ramifications including ending careers and affecting communities by closing schools. Hence, we need to look carefully at the variables that might affect a student’s performance on a test. Teachers and principals do not work in a vacuum. They have students with lives outside school. Students live in a real world. The real world affects how they behave and their ability to focus in class. These factors include: English being a second language The … →

Part 2: High stakes testing and opting out: The types of tests

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Dora Taylor

For the first part in this series, see Part 1: High stakes testing: A little history. High Stakes Testing and Opting Out: The Types of Tests  There are different types of tests that students typically take in a school year. One test the teacher creates and bases it on the information that has been provided in the classroom within a particular span of time. It provides information to the teacher, the parent and the student describing how much of a grasp … →

Standardized movie shown to 400 in Orlando

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Julie Woestehoff

An eye-opener: Orlando’s showing of Standardized: Lies, Money, and Civil Rights documentary By Lourdes Pérez Ramírez, founder of PAA affiliate HispanEduca More than 400 people and a nine-member panel made up of teachers, school board members, education advocates, and legislators gathered at Howard Middle School in Orlando, Fl on January 25 to attended the documentary Standardized: Lies, Money & Civil Rights — How Testing is Ruining Public Education. The public had the opportunity to ask the panel about a myriad … →

Standardized movie showing around the US

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Julie Woestehoff

PAA’s Florida affiliate HispanEduca invites parents to movie screening Standardized: Lies, Money and Civil Rights: How Testing is Ruining Public Education PAA Florida affiliate HispanEduca leader Lourdes Perez Ramirez invites every Florida parent to a showing in Orlando of the new movie “Standardized.” The screening will take place at Howard Middle School, 800 Robinson Street, free for all parents, on Jan. 25 at 1:30 PM. PAA members will be interested in attending and sharing information about other showings across the … →

Georgia opts out of PARCC

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Julie Woestehoff

By Kimberly Brooks, leader of PAA-Atlanta/GA/Atlanta Public Schools News in Georgia applauds the success of delaying/opt-out of the PARCC consortium-designed Common Core assessments. While I believe that this article deserves recognition, there is much more work to be done. For starters, the Georgia Department of Education has yet to be composed of a staff that would accommodate such a great responsibility. From the Iowa Test of Basic Skills when I was younger and the Georgia Graduation Test to the EOCT … →

A Virginia parent speaks truth to Arne Duncan

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Julie Woestehoff

We welcome our first chapter in Virginia, PAA-Roanoke Valley, and its leader, Laura Bowman.Check out (and like!) their new Facebook page! Here’s the story Laura told us about why she wanted to start a PAA chapter: I think it’s so important to have a parent group in my area speaking up in support of our public schools, teachers, and students.  I believe that high stakes testing and the education reform movement have hijacked our schools and turned them into testing … →

Another scandal – charter propaganda on the test

Posted on May 26, 2012 by admin

Today, with some help from me, Chicago Sun-Times education reporter Rosalind Rossi exposes yet another standardized testing scandal, this one on a Scantron test that was used several times in the Chicago Public Schools as part of an interim, or benchmark, reading assessment. Scantron is a national standardized test that CPS has been using for a couple of years as a computerized replacement for the quarterly Learning First and Benchmark Assessment tests. These tests cover a narrow set of skills … →

“Tell us a secret”: another creepy test question

Posted on May 12, 2012 by admin

The skeletons are flying out of the test publishers’ closets, and parents are getting angrier and angrier. This week it was an essay question on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge, which asked students to write about a secret that was hard to keep. According to the AP, the dad who learned about this question from his twin 9-year-old sons said, “All of the sudden, you have in a sense Big Brother checking out the secrets of families.” … →

"Tell us a secret": another creepy test question

Posted on May 12, 2012 by admin

The skeletons are flying out of the test publishers’ closets, and parents are getting angrier and angrier. This week it was an essay question on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge, which asked students to write about a secret that was hard to keep. According to the AP, the dad who learned about this question from his twin 9-year-old sons said, “All of the sudden, you have in a sense Big Brother checking out the secrets of families.” … →