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  Updated June 10



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Kids Endangered By New 3rd Grade Testing Policy

Click here to read current articles about this issue.
Click here to read frequently asked questions about this issue.

Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Klein just announced their plans to leave back 15,000 third graders based SOLELY on a single test score on the city-wide English or Math test! No grades, classroom work or teacher evaluation will count! Just the test score-that's high stakes.

Is this Mayor Bloomberg's way of playing politics with our children? By holding back the least successful test takers the Mayor will make the city look good on the 4th grade scores just in time for his reelection campaign.

What happens when children are held back? When you're 8 years old, the results are devastating. Every single study in the past twenty-five years has concluded that holding kids over at this young age does not lead to higher performance and increases by 50% the likelihood of a child dropping out of school later in life.

Leaving behind 8 year olds destroys their self esteem and their desire to learn.

Bloomberg's testing policy is guaranteed to do one thing: ruin good education. Excessive emphasis on standardized tests takes music, art, class trips and other enriching experiences out of the curriculum. Test prep drains precious time and resources from real learning.

$150 million tax payer dollars will be spent on this new policy. MONEY THAT COULD be better used to hire more teachers, lower class size, and bring needed resources into the classroom!

What You Can Do:

  • Share this information with your friends and neighbors
  • Call the Mayor at: 212-788-3106 and call Chancellor Klein at: 212-374-5110
  • Say No to using high stakes tests to punish our children.
  • Say No to the 3rd grade retention policy.

Keep the promises!
Hands Across NYC
June 16
City Hall Park
4:30pm - 6:00 pm

STOP THE BUDGET CUTS! JOIN US TO DEMAND NO CUTS TO OUR SCHOOLS!

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


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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