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  Updated: May 2009



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 Protest K-2
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Summary of the just released 2007 nationally conducted Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll:

* 67% of parents graded their local school an "A" or "B" in 2007 compared to 64% in 2006.

* 60% agreed "most public school students leave high school adequately prepared for college."

* The "biggest problem" facing schools is lack of funding.

* 40% had a negative view of NCLB, while only 31% had a favorable view

* Those claiming no opinion on NCLB declined from 69% in 2003 to 29% in 2007 with 27 of that 40 point change becoming negative.

* 48% are concerned that NCLB is reducing the teaching of "science, health, social studies, and the arts."

* only 27% supported "finding an alternative to the existing public school system."

* only 39% supported vouchers for private schools.

* two-thirds of the public and 70% of public school parents opposed having "private profit-making corporations" run local schools.

* 59% of the public and 57% of public school parents opposed having local mayors take over schools.

* 52% of parents felt "there is too much emphasis on achievement testing" in 2007 compared with only 32% in 2002, and 16 of that 20 point change previously felt it was "about right."

* 62% said that the current emphasis on standardized tests was a "bad thing" because it encouraged teachers to teach to the tests. Only 39% of parents were concerned about this in 2003.

* 82% prefer a measure of student improvement, rather than whether students pass a test, as the best way to measure school performance.

* 73% said they were "not willing" to have their child attend a virtual high school over the internet.

* 85% said it was important for children to learn a foreign language (but not necessarily in school).

* 79% think that English Language Learners should not have their scores counted in measuring school performance until after they pass an English proficiency test.

* 78% of public school parents said that Special Education students should not be required to meet the same academic standards as other students.

Please join us in speaking out about the KLEIN/BLOOMBERG SPIN on Test Scores and Mayoral Control. Let us know if we can add your organization.
Read our statement: English
Read our statement: Spanish

Organizations that are supporting the statement:
Teachers Unite, Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence, New York Collective of Radical Educators, Mothers Against Mayoral Control, It Is Time, Grassroots Education Movement GEM, The Purple Circle Day Care Center

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Council Member Bill de Blasio has just issued a report that calls for the DOE to spend more money on teaching and less on standardized testing.
Read the report here.
Read the source list.

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The Alliance for Childhood has issued a report on the need for creative play, not testing or test prep, in kindergarten.
+ Read the flier
+ Read the 8-page summary.

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Stop K-2 standardized testing!
Chancellor Klein and Mayor Bloomberg are considering a policy to bring mandated standardized testing to kindergarten through 2nd grade. We must stop them!

Sign the online petition today, and pass on the link.


NCLB is up for reauthorization NOW!
Read about it in THIS BOOKLET
Then contact your congressperson


Join the TOFT mailing list:








Music Video: "Not on the Test"
Produced by: Public School Test Records and Grammy Award-winner Tom Chapin

"Keeping Accountability Systems Accountable,"
Martha Foote, Jan. 2007

Schools Cut Back Subjects to Push Reading and Math
Sam Dillon, New York Times

As Test-Taking Grows, Test-Makers Grow Rarer
David M. Herszenhorn, New York Times

Principals Face Review in Education Overhaul
Elissa Gootman, New York Times

"No Child Left Behind: The Test"
Stan Karp, Rethinking Schools

National Education Association:
More information against NCLB.

"Test Question No. 1: Why Have These Tests?"
NYT article on one of Time Out's strongest activists: Jane R. Hirschmann

produced by Naava Katz Design