Our Children Are More Than Test Scores
Currently Eugene 4J students take over 170 standardized tests during their k-12 school experience. This does not count college admissions exams or the ordinary assessments teachers conduct in their class. Months of instructional time are taken up by standardized tests and test prep activity. Enormous amounts of money are spent on these tests. Most test results come back long after students have moved on to the next grade, so they do not help teachers improve their instruction. The tests are very narrow in scope and so push art, music, civics education, reading comprehension, and critical thinking skills out of the curriculum. This is not good for kids, for our society.
It needs to stop.
About Us
Our Beliefs
We believe education is about more than test scores. We know that standardized tests do not measure all, or even most, of what we want our children to learn. Such tests can be a useful tool at times, but by relying too much on standardized assessments to guide our educational decisions our current education system has become unbalanced. We need a more balanced approach to educating our children, one that involves LESS testing.
We believe a rhetoric of fear and disrespect for teachers masked as an “accountability movement” has driven the emphasis on standardized testing. We need something different. We believe children benefit when our vision of schooling is driven by hope, when parents and teachers share values and aspirations, and when the curriculum is broad and diverse.
How You Can Help
Opt Your Child Out of Standardized Tests
Fill out this simple form and your child will be exempted from most district and state mandated standardized tests. This benefits not only your child, but also helps make the case that the tests are not worth the time and money invested in them. If just 10% of parents opt their children out, the tests results become invalid measures of school performance. Portland, Eugene, and Bend consistently have opt our rates at or above that level.
Get Involved in Local Organizing
Get involved with local organizations that are working to improve schools by reducing the use of standardized tests. We recommend the Community Alliance for Public Education, Oregon Save Our Schools, and Oregon Public Education Network. We do not recommend Stand For Children, an organization funded by wealthy corporate donors that has consistently defended and even promoted the use of Standardized Tests.
Communicate your Concerns
Testing policy is debated and discussed every year at every level of our government. Let your teachers, principals, district administrators, and local and state officials know that you support reducing the use of standardized testing. They work for us. Its our children their policies effect. They need to listen. Parents like yourself have help a majority of US states walk away from these tests. For some peculiar reasons, Oregon hangs on to them more than most. Together we can change that.
Eugene Parents Concerned About Standardized Testing 