Fairtest: National Center for Fair and Open Testing

The advocacy heavyweight for alternatives to high-stakes standardized tests, FairTest offers a resource-rich web site, The FairTest Examiner quarterly print newsletter, and a variety of publications devoted to critiques and alternatives within the testing reform movement. Don’t miss the website’s Assessment Reform Network, which will connect you with local movements supporting fair, open testing.

web site: www.fairtest.org
email: fairtest@fairtest.org
telephone: 617-864-4810
mailing address: FairTest, 342 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139-1802

What Kids Can Do

Amidst righteous outrage on all sides of the assessment issue, What Kids Can Do reminds us that demonstrations of what students know and can do occupies the heart of education and all attempts to evaluate its outcomes. Maintained by a small professional staff (including Kathleen Cushman, Horace’s previous editor) and student contributors, What Kids Can Do shows off diverse accomplishments, including filmmaking, responses to the September 11th tragedy, and efforts to revitalize local economies. What Kids Can Do makes the connection between these accomplishments, school-evaluated academic achievement and critical life skills, and it makes us unable to forget that learning is complex, endlessly unique and deeply personal.

web site: www.whatkidscando.org
email: info@whatkidscando.org
telephone: 401-247-7665
mailing address: What Kids Can Do, Inc., P.O. Box 603252, Providence, RI 02906

Competencies that Count

Author Lili Allen’s Competencies that Count is a working paper produced by The Education Alliance at Brown University in partnership with Jobs for the Future. Its survey of eleven tools for assessing competency in the areas of problem solving, information management, and communication skills fittingly reflects the school-work connection and emphasizes essential skills not possible to measure in one-shot standardized testing. The 21-page survey is available at no cost as a PDF download; single copies of the print edition are also free of charge.

website: www.lab.brown.edu/public/pubs/comp_count/comp_sahps.pdf or www.jff.org/pdfs%20and%20downloads/Competencies_That_Count.pdf
email: publications@lab.brown.edu
telephone: 401-274-9548
mailing address: The Education Alliance at Brown University, 222 Richmond Street, Suite 300, Providence, RI 02903-4226

Students Against Testing

Students Against Testing supports and documents student political action against standardized testing. In addition to reports of student protests and anti-test activities nationwide, the web site offers reproducible fliers, action inspirations, and an extensive resource section.

web site: www.nomoretests.com

Quality Counts 2001: A Better Balance

If you need to know what’s going on nationwide in the standards, testing and accountability arena, “Quality Counts 2001” provides deep, comprehensive data along with survey results and analysis. Use the web to access the report, or order online it for $10.00 per copy.

website: www.edweek.org/sreports/qc01/

Learning Record

Based on an established professional development model, the Learning Record assessment model provides ways for schools to establish a performance-based authentic assessment system rich in data collection and analysis. Focusing on individualized assessments in k-12 reading and mathematics, it allows teachers opportunities to ensure interrater reliability across schools regionally. The Learning Record makes it possible for schools to develop a
comprehensive system that deals rigorously with accountability questions while keeping the focus on personalized teaching and learning.

website: www.learningrecord.org/
email: lrecord@cll.org
telephone: 866-596-3723
mailing address: 10769 Woodside Ave., Ste. 203, Santee, CA 92021

Echoes in the Hallway

Produced with support from the Rural School and Community Trust, Echoes in the Hallway is a videotaped play written by the late Joe Hiney, a Bridgewater, Virginia high school teacher,in reaction to his students’ struggles with standardized tests and their own desires to demonstrate who they are and what they know. Performed as short scenes with music, this production of Echoes in the Hallway is an engaging way to focus energy on some of the potential emotional effects of standardized testing. Copies of the video and discussion guide cost $20.00.

website: www.echoesinthehallway.com
mailing address for orders:Publication Manager, Rural School and Community Trust, 1825 K Street, NW, Suite 703, Washington, DC 20006
Contact John Eckman, Information Officer, Rural School and Community Trust for additional information about the play at jeckman@ruraledu.orgl