National Day of Action Tomorrow, April 8 Overhaul ESEA/NCLB: Less Testing More Learning #EdBlogNet

National Day of Action Tomorrow, April 8

Overhaul ESEA/NCLB: Less Testing More Learning

What:  Call your U.S. Senators and join the Twitter storm/Thunderclap. If we raise our voices together, we can persuade the Senate Education Committee to reduce testing requirements as it debates renewal of Elementary and Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind.  

When: April 8, 2015

Who: Testing Resistance and Reform Spring alliance, convened by FairTest, and including many national and state organizations.

Call your Senators:  

Please mark your calendar, and take a few minutes on April 8 to phone your U.S. senators in Washington, DC. Ask to speak to the staffer who works on education policy. If no one is available, leave your message with the person who answered the phone. Find the phone numbers at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

Tell Your Senators: 

Here is a model message. Feel free to use it, modify it, or say something entirely different.

Hello. I'm [your name], calling from [your town]. I'm calling to ask Senator [name] to support changes to No Child Left Behind that will promote a saner and less intrusive approach to public school testing. Specifically, I urge [him/her] to support a switch to testing once each in elementary, middle and high school, and to remove high-stakes consequences from federally required standardized tests. Both these measures will help address the current over-emphasis on testing at the expense of learning. 

 
If you have specific stories about problems with over-testing, please relate them. Personal stories are the most effective.

Twitterstorm:

On April 8, send a tweet, help build the storm. Here is an example. If you modify it, be sure to include #cutfederaltests and the link to getting your Senators' numbers:

           

"Join BATs, FT, SOS, TRRA, & UOO 4/8 #CutFedTests. Call Senate http://thndr.it/1P6DfEf. Cut back tests, end high stakes."

             

The link is to Senate phone numbers. The last 'sentence' is the basic message.

             

To tweet your Senators, find their Twitter handles at: https://twitter.com/gov/lists/us-senate/members 

           

Help launch the Twitterstorm by supporting our Thunderclap; when you do, on Tues eve a twitter, facebook or tumblr message is sent to your contacts asking them to call their Senators on Weds April 8. See https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/24577-cutfedtests-4-8-call-in.

Email: 

Join the email campaign as well. To send a letter to your Senator, go to: http://fairtest.org/roll-back-standardized-testing-send-letter-congres.

Monty Neill	Lisa Guisbond	Bob Schaeffer
Executive Director	Assessment Reform Analyst	Public Education Director