On the subject of public education, Diane Ravitch may be America's most important whistle-blower. The former U.S. assistant secretary of education doesn't employ hidden cameras or purloined documents, and she doesn't entrap teachers or find evidence of financial malfeasance by district administrators. Instead, she uses cold, hard numbers to expose the Big Lie: that the education reforms of the last two decades – from No Child Left Behind to high-stakes testing and the ongoing, bipartisan, national love affair with charter schools – have done much, or anything, to fix American public education. Read more

Perhaps the most useless standardized tests in the world are the "field" tests. This was written by Fred Smith, a retired New York City Board of Education senior analyst who worked for the public school system in test research and development. A version of this post first appeared on citylimits.org Read more

CVPE Member wrote an op-ed for the Houston Chronicle  and stated that "standardized tests were originally intended as diagnostic tools to identify areas where students need remediation, not as punitive weapons. Now school closures, hiring and firing decisions and graduation are directly linked to test scores. As a result, more and more time is spent preparing for and administering tests - time that otherwise would be spent teaching curriculum." Read more

(UPDATED)At the time of this article 100 school districts had passed a resolution saying that high stakes standardized tests are "strangling" public schools. By the end of summer, over 700 Texas school districts would sign the resolution. HISD, after delegations of CVPE parents, teachers and students met with school board members in the spring 2012, signed a watered down version of the resolution. Read more

In an effort to strengthen the voices of those most affected by the culture of standardized testing--students, parents, and teachers--we invite you to respond to our survey on high-stakes testing and to share them with everyone you know. Read more

This week students across HISD are taking long benchmark tests to gauge their readiness for actual TAKS and STAAR testing in April and May. Here are some reflections from high school students after four hours of English benchmark testing. Read more

Saying high-stakes standardized testing is "strangling our public schools," superintendents of several high-performing North Texas school districts have jointly signed a letter to top state officials and lawmakers warning about the deterioration of the education system. Call it open rebellion against the 25-year-old testing regimen. Wow. Read more

Our children do not need to be guinea pigs for the STAAR exam. The tests were not written by educators, and there are no study guides developed since the state did not allocate any funding for this purpose. There is not even any direction from the state regarding the rule that stipulates that the exam count 15% of a high school students' grade. Are we really asking our children to take a test blind? Read more

No Child Left Behind required all schools to bring all students to high levels of achievement but took no note of the challenges that disadvantaged students face. Read more

HISD reported having 11 schools that don’t receive Title I funds and 252 schools that do. According to the Department of Education, HISD spends 19 percent less per student on its Title I schools. Read more