Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) is now chair of the education committee in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension committee, and has officially opened the door to reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB, also known as the ESEA, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act). He’s seeking emails and letters talking about testing and accountability […]
Join NPE’s letter writing campaign to Sen. Alexander and the HELP Committee
Friends, I wrote a letter for the Action Network letter campaign “Urge Senator Lamar Alexander and the members of Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee to put an end to annual standardized testing”. Network for Public Education (NPE) is calling on Congress to support the adoption of Option 1 in Senator Lamar Alexander’s “Every […]
Fix Education Testing and Accountability to Reauthorize No Child Left Behind
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) is now chair of the education committee in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension committee, and has officially opened the door to reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB, also known as the ESEA, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act). He’s seeking emails and letters talking about testing and accountability […]
American Statistical Association has just released a very important document on Value Added Methodologies
“The President of the United States and his Secretary of Education are violating one of the most fundamental principles concerning test use: Tests should be used only for the purpose for which they were developed. If they are to be used for some other purpose, then careful attention must be paid to whether or not […]
What Backers of the "Parent Trigger"/Parent Tricker Law Don’t Want You to Know: Real Democratic Involvement in Public Schools Works
Around the country, REAL parent heroes are putting the lie to the version of the story told in the movie Won’t Back Down. The “parent trigger”, or “parent tricker” law is in the news again, this time with a glossy film starring popular actors Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The heart-string-tugging movie is called Won’t […]
Gutting the Arts: Here's How NCLB Undermines Schools and How a Vigilant and Caring Community Fought to Save a Beloved Program
NCLB’s narrowed curriculum almost cost our students wonderful opportunities. I refused to allow this school to ditch a fantastic program because they would rather hire a teacher who might have less experience and be able to come in for less money than to hire one to carry on this incredibly valuable art program. So did my daughter. We spoke up. You can too.