Stop Ohio Proficiency Tests!
Stop High-Stakes Testing!

We Need Authentic Assessment NOW!

We believe that children should not be judged on one test alone for such high stakes events as being promoted to the next grade, or for graduation.

We believe that Authentic Assessments, not High-Stakes Standardized Tests, are more appropriate to determine how a child is learning, and what a child has learned. Authentic Assessments are also more appropriate to understand why a child may be struggling.

Things to consider:

• Children are born ready to learn.
• Learning is developmental. 
• Learning occurs naturally when it has context and purpose for the learner.
• When the material being taught is not meaningful for the learner, the learner will not fully understand the material.
• Over-reliance on testing promotes learning snippets of facts, and also promotes an aversion to digging deeper into a particular subject.
• Authentic Assessment allows teachers and parents to see how a student understands and uses a concept in context.

Not sure about what the fuss about testing is all about? Please read this FAQ of common questions about High-Stakes Tests (adapted from the FAQ at FairTest).

Please, come into our website, and learn more about the things taking place in the name of education.  Agree?  Disagree? Get involved and let your voice be heard.  

This site has an incredible amount of links, against, for, and about testing and much information about education and learning. Bookmark it now, and visit us again!  

On this page:
In the news... 
Articles   
Let your voice be heard
Current Ohio Information

Visit the Rest of the Website:
About Us (who we are, and why we are doing this)
Get Started (learn more about High-Stakes Tests in Ohio)
Additional Resources (many places in which to learn more about testing) 
Considerations about learning and education
Get the Word Out about how you feel about high stakes testing.
Authentic Assessment (what it is, and why we should look at including it in the evaluation of our children)

Have an opinion to share?  Please email us, or come back to visit our message board, which is temporarily down but will be active soon.

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Have a specific topic you are looking for?  Type a keyword or keywords into the Search Query to search the website. A separate window will open with your results.

			In the news...

Alabama 
World of Opportunity
Students who get pushed out of the system find another way to make it.
WOO information

Conference Information
Alternative Education Resource Organization (AER0)
2006 Conference.  June 29th - July 2nd 
"Educational Alternatives: Finding Our Commonalities and Celebrating Our Differences"
"The AERO Conference '06, "Educational Alternatives: Finding Our Commonalities & Celebrating Our Differences" will attempt to bring together and connect many of the educational alternatives in North America and abroad."  
Early Bird Registration Ends March 1st.
Rates increase March 2nd.

Have a conference or other event you'd like to have listed?  Let us know!

For current articles about atrocities in education and testing, please also see Susan Ohanian's website. She gathers news from all over the United States.  Do a Search on your state, or on a specific topic.

Two Viewpoints Teach For America Report
Effects of Teach for America on Students
SECTQ (Southeast Center for Teaching Quality) responds to Teach for America Study 

New York City Mayor Bloomberg knows how to get the votes he wants for the newest education initiative (retention for any 3rd grader who fails The Test) -- He Dismissed Dissenters! Also, see here.

Look at these Bills to Reform No Child Left Behind (NCLB).  What do you think?  Write your congressperson!  

News Archives

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			Articles

Please submit any URL of an article you think is appropriate and needs to be shared.  This will rotate as new articles are brought to our attention.  

SAT Errors Highlight Test's Imperfections. This article asks..."Just how much risk of error is tolerable when students' futures are at stake?" March 11, 2006

 Special Series: Flunking the Test, Dayton Daily News (You must "sign in" to read article, user name and e-mail address, and password.)

"A Balanced School Accountability Model: An Alternative to High-Stakes Testing" Phi Delta Kappan, 2004

"Ten "Must Know" Facts about Educational Testing" National PTA Website.

Retention and Social Promotion: Wrightslaw, a group which provides "accurate, up-to-date information about special education law and advocacy for children with disabilities" has compiled several articles and links from several organizations about retention. As well, they have compiled a High-Stakes Testing Flyer with many resources listed. 

OHIO
Testing High Stakes Tests (National study which mentions Toledo and Fairfield Ohio), 2003

Students Left Behind By Exit Exams -- Article which includes Ohio students

Brief Commentary on Ohio's Proficiency Tests (old site, but much information about Ohio's tests here)

Graduation Test to be given to Ohio high school students.

Interview:  David L. Brennan about Cleveland Schools.  (Things to consider.... Are our children "products"? Can education truly become a "profit-making enterprise?"  What is the bottom line in such institutions -- life-long learners (students who are vested in learning throughout their lives), or the "profitability" of the school?)    

OTHER STATES

ILLINOIS 
Visit Substance which is a monthly investigative newspaper devoted to in-depth reporting on the major issues facing public education.  Reporters are people who once are (or were) in the system, teachers, parents or other workers.

NEW YORK
An article from a parent in support of testing.

NORTH CAROLINA
A research paper on the Social Implications of North Carolina's Accountability Program. (PDF)

MASSACHUSETTS 
Pro and Con articles about the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS)

Information about MCAS 

ELSEWHERE
"Standardized Testing and Its Victims" Alfie Kohn in Education Week, September, 2000 (see other articles by Alfie here)

"High Stakes Tests: The Dog Ate Our Common Sense" --  Orlando Sentinel, May 2003

"National Study Debunks High Stakes Tests as Way to Improve Public Schools"  -- The  Resistance, January 2003

Effects of State Testing Programs on Elementary Schools with High Concentration of Student Poverty -- Good New or Bad News? -- Current Issues in Education, Vol. 6 2003

"We hung the most dimwitted essays on the wall" -- Salon, June 2002

Standardized tests erode rather than enhance education, says psychology professor.

One Teacher's Opinion about the high-stakes testing movement. 

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			Let your voice be heard!

Our message board is currently not active, but will be shortly.  Please check back to visit us soon. Your opinion is important to us. 

We want to hear from anyone who wants to speak for, against, and about the requirements for testing and other educational matters. 

PLEASE NOTE: When you first log on to our message board it asks you to sign in -- you can use a unique name. It may ask for your real e-mail address. This feature allows us to keep SPAM out of the message board.  ALL information used to sign in is confidential and will not be used by anyone, including the moderator of this board. 

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			"Information cannot replace education." Earl Kiole

-- 2006 *updates in progress*

Fair Use for Educational Purposes:
The links provided in this website take you to original websites, and occasionally to material that may have been previously copyrighted.  We state that the material used in this site is used without profit and it is distributed for educational and research purposes only, in accordance to Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Please contact the copyright owner if you want to use copyrighted material for other than 'fair use' purposes.  It is important to recognize that a democracy is based on ready access to materials, which we are striving to provide to you.