Courtesy of Valerie's Strauss' Answer Sheet Blog at the Washington Post
This is the sample anti-testing
resolution that district school boards in Texas have been adapting or passing
as is to express their discontent with high stakes tests:
WHEREAS, the over reliance on
standardized, high stakes testing as the only assessment of learning that
really matters in the state and federal accountability systems is strangling
our public schools and undermining any chance that educators have to transform
a traditional system of schooling into a broad range of learning experiences
that better prepares our students to live successfully and be competitive on a
global stage; and
WHEREAS, we commend Robert Scott,
Commissioner of Education, for his concern about the overemphasis on high
stakes testing that has become “a perversion of its original intent” and for
his continuing support of high standards and local accountability; and
WHEREAS, we believe our state’s future
prosperity relies on a high-quality education system that prepares students for
college and careers, and without such a system Texas’ economic competitiveness
and ability and to attract new business will falter; and
WHEREAS, the real work of designing more
engaging student learning experiences requires changes in the culture and
structure of the systems in which teachers and students work; and
WHEREAS, what occurs in our classrooms
every day should be student-centered and result in students learning at a deep
and meaningful level, as opposed to the superficial level of learning that
results from the current over-emphasis on that which can be easily tested by
standardized tests; and
WHEREAS, We believe in the tenets set out
in Creating a New Vision for Public Education in Texas (TASA, 2008) and our
goal is to transform this district in accordance with those tenets; and
WHEREAS, Our vision is for all students
to be engaged in more meaningful learning activities that cultivate their
unique individual talents, to provide for student choice in work that is
designed to respect how they learn best, and to embrace the concept that
students can be both consumers and creators of knowledge; and
WHEREAS, only by developing new
capacities and conditions in districts and schools, and the communities in
which they are embedded, will we ensure that all learning spaces foster and
celebrate innovation, creativity, problem solving, collaboration, communication
and critical thinking; and
WHEREAS, these are the very skills that
business leaders desire in a rising workforce and the very attitudes that are
essential to the survival of our democracy; and
WHEREAS, imposing relentless test
preparation and boring memorization of facts to enhance test performance is
doing little more than stealing the love of learning from our students and
assuring that we fall short of our goals; and
WHEREAS, we do not oppose accountability
in public schools and we point with pride to the performance of our students,
but believe that the system of the past will not prepare our students to lead
in the future and neither will the standardized tests that so dominate their
instructional time and block our ability to make progress toward a world-class
education system of student-centered schools and future-ready students;
therefore be it
RESOLVED that the _____________ ISD Board
of Trustees calls on the Texas Legislature to reexamine the public school
accountability system in Texas and to develop a system that encompasses
multiple assessments, reflects greater validity, uses more cost efficient
sampling techniques and other external evaluation arrangements, and more
accurately reflects what students know, appreciate and can do in terms of the
rigorous standards essential to their success, enhances the role of teachers as
designers, guides to instruction and leaders, and nurtures the sense of inquiry
and love of learning in all students.
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