Teachers at Seattle school boycott standardized test
Teachers at a Seattle high school, in a rare boycott by educators against a standardized test, are refusing to give students a decades-old reading and math test after…
Assessments
Encourage greater interaction and engagement with classroom management software
NetSupport School is a classroom management software program that gives teachers the ability to instruct and visually or audibly monitor, as well as interact with, their students—either individually,…
No. 2 pencils to give way to computers in testing school students
The era of coloring in ovals with a No. 2 pencil may soon be over, the Las Vegas Sun reports. More and more tests — such as the…
SETDA issues guidance to help schools prepare for online testing
The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) has released new guidance to help policy makers and district leaders determine their ed-tech needs and readiness for implementing the Common…
Test of algebra relevance as scores fall
Steve Shapiro, a math teacher at Falls Church High School in Fairfax County, had a sick feeling when he saw the results of last spring’s state math tests,…
U.S. fourth graders show gains in science, math; eighth-grade achievement flat
American fourth-graders are performing better than they were four years ago in math and reading, but students four years older ... Read more
Op-Ed: It’s time we ditched the college admissions tests
Parents, high school students, and college counselors, listen up. I’ve got good news about those dreaded and bank-account-draining college admission tests and test prep programs, Takepart.com reports.
Teachers union calls for certification exam
School teachers should have to pass a stringent exam—much like the bar exam for lawyers—before being allowed to enter the profession, one of the nation's largest teachers unions…
Computer glitch keeps some Texas students from retaking high-stakes exam
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Texas high schoolers see relief from high-stakes testing rule
For a second year, Texas high schools will not be required to count new end-of-course exams as part of a student's grade, Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams announced…
Are we spending too little on standardized tests?
Matt Chingos has an idea that will likely roil the scores of parents and teachers who think the U.S. tests its students too much: we might actually spend…
Reports highlight need for data mobility
Educational data must follow students as they cross state lines, and policy makers must be equipped with the tools needed to ensure that teachers, students, and parents have…
Michigan takes big step forward in online testing of students
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Texas Education Agency seeks $1 million for exam security
The Texas Education Agency is asking the state Legislature for $1 million for investigations into irregularities in student tests, the Huffington Post reports.
How to sustain Common Core efforts
Educators and policy makers are heavily invested in the Common Core State Standards, and a new ASCD report aims to help school leaders effectively implement the standards to…
Georgia high school students, teachers earn cash for AP test success
Dozens of students at Howard High School in Georgia pocketed $100 each for every Advanced Placement English, math or science exam they passed with a 3, 4 or…
For Asians, school tests are vital steppingstones
Ting Shi said his first two years in the United States were wretched. He slept in a bunk bed in the same room with his grandparents and a…
Officials say arts education may raise test scores
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Five ed-tech topics you’d like to see covered—and how we can help
We’ve put together this handy guide to stories and resources we’ve published that pertain to the five ed-tech topics you’re most interested in reading about.
Newspaper: Test security inconsistent among states
The federal government has no standards to protect the integrity of the achievement tests it requires in tens of thousands of public schools, and test security among the…
Computers seen as ‘unfunded mandate’ as online testing looms
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How to have assessment without testing—and without losing valuable instructional time
Most educators can agree that frequent progress monitoring is critical to achieving a data-driven culture. However, under my direction at Cahuenga Elementary School in Los Angeles, we employed…
Five-year-olds put to the test as kindergarten exams gain steam
With school in full swing across the United States, the littlest students are getting used to the blocks table and the dress-up corner - and that staple of…
SAT scores edge down; ACT now more popular exam
Average national scores on two of the three sections of the SAT college entrance exam edged down for the high school class of 2012, which was the first…
Students’ science proficiency all over the map
A series of reports found that K-12 students in many states spend less time learning science and don't have access to rigorous science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)…
ACT scores steady, show signs of small progress
Average scores on the ACT exam held steady for the high school class of 2012 but the results show modest progress in the number of students who appear…
ACT to launch college and career testing for elementary school students
Standardized testing is under increasing scrutiny, as proponents tout its potential for bringing accountability to education while opponents deride it as misguided and exhausting. How much testing is…
Students’ online photos of California tests delay release of scores
Student photos of state standardized tests posted on social networks have caused a two-week delay in the release of scores ... Read more
Standardized tests of tomorrow behind schedule, according to insider survey
When asked about the problems associated with standardized testing -- cheating, overtesting, blunt measures of student achievement -- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan often points to a…
Education’s pendulum: Thinkers or test takers?
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High schools slow to adopt standards-based report cards
Those A’s, B’s, C’s, and, yes, even F’s are still coming home on most high school report cards, despite moves to scrap the grading system in favor of…
Kindergarten career test in the works by ACT
A new digital tool to test academic and behavioral skills will target students starting in kindergarten, the Associated Press reports.
Testing mandates flunk cost-benefit analysis
According to Wikipedia, cost–benefit analysis “is a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project, decision or government policy (hereafter, ‘project’). CBA has two…
Testing experts play critical role in students’, teachers’ futures
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Study: Students perform better on tests when offered incentives
Students attending low-performing schools tend to perform better on tests when promised financial or non-financial incentives for good scores, according to a study conducted by Freakonomics’ Steven D.…
Tests show U.S. students struggle to explain answers
American children do much better identifying the correct answers to simple scientific tasks than using evidence from their experiments to explain those answers.
10 ways to oppose high-stakes standardized tests
I’ve written several times in recent months about a growing movement by parents, teachers, principals, superintendents, students and others to protest the use of standardized tests for high-stakes…
Fight ensues over Fla. exams failed by most, a teacher included
In Florida, controversy continues over whether state Board of Education acted appropriately by lowering the requirements for a passing score on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test as a…
Parents protest surge in standardized testing
A backlash against high-stakes standardized testing is sweeping through U.S. school districts as parents, teachers, and administrators protest that the exams are unfair, unreliable and unnecessarily punitive -…
10 students from same high school earn perfect ACT score
Only 0.04% of students nationally who took the ACT college entrance exam received a perfect score last year. This year, 10 students, all from the same Irvine high…