Letter of Support from Academics for "Say No to NAPLAN"

Posted on Wednesday May 16, 2012

Over 100 education academics have signed a letter in support of “Say No to NAPLAN”. >> Read on...

A Mother’s Plea to the Prime Minister on NAPLAN

Posted on Tuesday May 15, 2012

A mother asks the Prime Minister to rethink the Government’s stance on NAPLAN. She says that NAPLAN is No Plan for our kids and that she will be withdrawing her son from NAPLAN in the future. >> Read on...

ACARA Ignores Evidence on Teaching to the Test

Posted on Tuesday May 8, 2012

The head of ACARA, Barry McGaw, says that claims that NAPLAN is creating test-driven schooling are nonsense. Yet, the national education ministers’ council is so concerned about teaching to the test and narrowing of the curriculum that it has commissioned ACARA to investigate and report. It looks like being a ‘whitewash’ report. >> Read on...

From a Parent Advised Not to Withdraw Her Child from NAPLAN

Posted on Monday May 7, 2012

A parent says why she has withdrawn her daughter from NAPLAN despite being advised not to do so by her school. >> Read on...

A Parent Perspective on NAPLAN

Posted on Wednesday May 2, 2012

A parent questions the value of NAPLAN >> Read on...

Inappropriate Uses of NAPLAN Results

Posted on Tuesday May 1, 2012

NAPLAN tests are limited in their coverage of the wide range of skills in literacy and numeracy, and in their capability to measure the achievement levels of individual students and the performance of schools. >> Read on...

National Resolution Against High Stakes Testing in the US

Posted on Friday April 27, 2012

A national resolution against high stakes testing was launched in the US this week by a coalition of education, parent and civil rights groups. It calls for reduced reliance on standardised test results to evaluate students, teachers, principals and schools. >> Read on...

What Is NAPLAN Doing to Your School?

Posted on Monday April 23, 2012

The next round of NAPLAN tests are in mid-May. Tell us your stories and information about the impact of NAPLAN in your school. >> Read on...

Parent Boycott of Standardised Testing is Growing

Posted on Thursday April 19, 2012

A parent rebellion against standardised testing is growing in the United States because it narrows the curriculum and distorts teaching. >> Read on...

NAPLAN Test Barrage for Students

Posted on Tuesday April 10, 2012

The next round of NAPLAN tests are due next month. Students around Australia have endured a barrage of practice tests for NAPLAN during first term. For many schools, NAPLAN is now the equivalent of Year 12 exams. >> Read on...

Texas in Revolt Against High Stakes Testing

Posted on Saturday April 7, 2012

About one-quarter of all district school boards in Texas have passed a resolution in the past two months condemning the reliance on standardised tests to judge progress in education improvement. More are expected to follow. It is the biggest revolt against high-stakes testing in the US so far. < >> Read on...

New Cheating Allegations Involving Thousands of US Schools

Posted on Monday March 26, 2012

A massive new cheating scandal has erupted in the United States, possibly involving thousands of schools across the country. The new scandal calls into question the validity of test results used to assess schools and teachers. >> Read on...

The Fallibility of League Tables Exposed

Posted on Wednesday March 21, 2012

The claims by columnist Paul Sheehan that private schools do better than public schools fail to take account of significant differences in the socio-economic status composition of schools and the statistical margin of error on the NAPLAN test results used to rank schools. OECD test results show that public schools do just as well as private schools after accounting for socio-economic composition. >> Read on...

Test Mania is a Perversion of Education

Posted on Monday February 13, 2012

NAPLAN mania dominates the first half of the school year in Australian schools. A Republican education commissioner warns of the dangers of test mania and the “military-industrial complex” in US education. >> Read on...

Report Finds that High Stakes Testing is Harmful to Student Learning

Posted on Friday February 3, 2012

A new study has found consistent evidence in international research that high stakes testing is harmful to student learning, teaching, school curriculum and student well-being. < >> Read on...

The Game is Up on League Tables

Posted on Thursday January 26, 2012

The UK Government has attempted to stop schools “gaming” their results by concentrating on borderline students at the expense of high and low achieving students. >> Read on...

US Education Dept. Acts on Cheating in Tests

Posted on Monday January 23, 2012

The US Education Department has become so worried about continuing cheating scandals in schools across the country that it has issued a public request for information about practices to prevent and detect cheating by schools on standardised tests. >> Read on...

Several Schools Found to be Cheating in NAPLAN Tests

Posted on Tuesday January 17, 2012

Several teachers were found to have helped students with answers during last year’s NAPLAN tests. Several schools were also found to have encouraged some parents to withdraw their children from the tests. >> Read on...

Now it is Exam Boards Caught Cheating

Posted on Wednesday December 14, 2011

A huge cheating scandal has erupted in Britain. Exam boards have been found to be routinely giving teachers information about future questions and areas of the syllabus that would be assessed. One examiner was secretly recorded as admitting that “we’re cheating”. >> Read on...

Teachers Say the Curriculum is Being Narrowed by Testing

Posted on Monday December 12, 2011

A national survey of teachers in the United States has found that some core subjects have been effectively abandoned as a result of increased testing of literacy and mathematics.< >> Read on...

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