Caution Needed in Interpreting PISA 2015 Results

Posted on Saturday January 27, 2018

Study shows that the switch from pen-and-paper to computer tests for PISA 2015 assessments may have contributed to significant falls in results amongst higher performing countries. >> Read on...

PISA Rankings Are Misleading Because of Differences in Student Coverage

Posted on Tuesday August 22, 2017

The PISA international league table rankings are misleading because a large proportion of the 15-year-old population in many countries is not in school. There are significant differences in the proportion in school even among developed countries which influence the rankings. >> Read on...

Growing Grassroots Movement Rolls Back Testing Overkill

Posted on Tuesday November 17, 2015

A new report details the growing grassroots movement in the United States against standardised testing. >> Read on...

A Teacher's Comment on NAPLAN

Posted on Wednesday May 20, 2015

A teacher responds to the ABC Life Matters discussion on parents taking their children out of the NAPLAN tests. >> Read on...

Massive Surge in Students Opting-Out of Tests

Posted on Saturday April 18, 2015

There was a massive surge in the number of students being withdrawn from standardised tests in the United States last week. >> Read on...

My School Has Failed to Improve School Results

Posted on Tuesday March 24, 2015

My School has failed dismally in its main objective to improve school results. Reading, writing and numeracy test scores have largely stagnated or fallen since the website was established. >> Read on...

How Good is My School?

Posted on Sunday March 22, 2015

Parents should be careful how they interpret test scores published on the My School website. School league tables published in the Canberra Times based on this data are built on shaky ground. >> Read on...

Testing Times

Posted on Tuesday March 17, 2015

A huge opt-out movement has developed in the United States with parents withdrawing their children from standardised tests across the country. >> Read on...

Parents Condemn Canberra Times’ School League Tables

Posted on Friday March 6, 2015

Canberra parent’s organisation condemns the publication of school league tables in the Canberra Times. >> Read on...

Open Letter on Testing by Diane Ravitch

Posted on Wednesday January 21, 2015

An open letter by Diane Ravitch to the US Senate calls for annual standardised testing to be dropped in US schools. >> Read on...

Parents Are Becoming More Disillusioned With NAPLAN

Posted on Thursday December 11, 2014

There were record withdrawal rates from the NAPLAN tests across Australia and in most states/territories this year. It suggests that increasing numbers of parents realise that NAPLAN is not compulsory. >> Read on...

Inspiring Letter From a Principal on NAPLAN

Posted on Thursday September 18, 2014

A Western Australian principal has written an inspiring letter to his students to put their NAPLAN results into perspective. >> Read on...

What Do Standardized Tests Actually Test?

Posted on Monday August 11, 2014

A US educator answers the question of “what do standardized tests teach”. >> Read on...

NAPLAN Withdrawal Rates Increase in WA, but Many Parents are Still in the Dark about their Right to Withdraw

Posted on Saturday May 10, 2014

Education authorities continue the conspiracy of silence about the right of parents to withdraw their children from NAPLAN. However, more and more parents are becoming better informed about their rights. >> Read on...

Teacher Says He Cheats on NAPLAN Tests

Posted on Thursday May 1, 2014

A private school English teacher says he cheats on the NAPLAN tests by drilling his students. He says it detracts from time spent analysing literature. >> Read on...

More on the Storm of Protest in the US Against Testing

Posted on Wednesday April 23, 2014

More about the storm of teacher, parent and student protest against testing in the United States. >> Read on...

Wave of Protest Against Testing

Posted on Monday April 21, 2014

A wave of protest by parents, students and teachers against standardised testing has swept across the United States. >> Read on...

What is Happening with NAPLAN in Your School?

Posted on Thursday April 17, 2014

The 2014 NAPLAN tests are only four weeks away. Tell us your stories and information about the effects of NAPLAN in your school. >> Read on...

Your Child Does Not Have to Do NAPLAN

Posted on Wednesday April 16, 2014

A flyer for parents about the right to withdraw their child from the NAPLAN tests. >> Read on...

Why We Opted Our Child Out of State Testing

Posted on Monday April 7, 2014

An opt-out movement against standardised testing has exploded in the United States in the last few months. Here a New York parent explains her family’s decision to opt out of the New York state tests. >> Read on...

A Cautionary Tale from New York on High Stakes Testing

Posted on Monday March 10, 2014

A lecture tour by a US professor of education provides a cautionary tale about high stakes testing and control of education policy in New York State by entrepreneurs and corporations. >> Read on...

Are Finland’s Vaunted Schools Slipping?

Posted on Friday December 13, 2013

Leading Finnish education expert, Pasi Sahlberg, comments on Finland’s slip down the rankings on international test results from the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA)._ >> Read on...

A Tale of ACARA and the See-no-evil Monkeys: There is No Excuse for Willful Ignorance

Posted on Thursday June 27, 2013

Margaret Clark takes ACARA to task for its submission to the Senate inquiry on NAPLAN. >> Read on...

Principals Say NAPLAN Has a Negative Impact on Schooling

Posted on Wednesday June 19, 2013

A survey of primary school principals shows that a majority believe that the NAPLAN tests are having a negative impact on student well-being, curriculum and teaching practices.< >> Read on...

Queensland Premier Criticises NAPLAN as Misleading and Narrowing the Curriculum

Posted on Monday June 10, 2013

The Queensland Premier, Campbell Newman, has criticised NAPLAN as a high stakes test that is misleading and narrowing the curriculum. < >> Read on...

Report Finds Cheating on High Stakes Tests is Rampant in the US

Posted on Wednesday May 29, 2013

The US Government Accountability Office has reported evidence of rampant cheating on high stakes tests, with allegations of cheating in 40 states in the last two years. It says that using awards or recognition for improving test scores can provide incentives to cheat. >> Read on...

Videos on High Stakes Testing

Posted on Saturday May 25, 2013

View two great videos of news reports on high stakes testing – one from Australia and one from New York. Both should be compulsory viewing. >> Read on...

Students Got Raffle Tickets to do NAPLAN

Posted on Tuesday May 21, 2013

Some schools offered students special inducements to do the NAPLAN tests last week. One Tasmanian school offered free breakfasts, raffle tickets and lunch and a movie with a teacher to encourage students to do the tests. >> Read on...

More Stories About NAPLAN

Posted on Thursday May 16, 2013

Some more stories about NAPLAN this week. >> Read on...

A Day in the Life of NAPLAN

Posted on Thursday May 16, 2013

Some stories about NAPLAN this week from a Canberra government school. >> Read on...

Study Shows Schools Rorting Test Results

Posted on Thursday May 16, 2013

A new study of Florida’s high profile school accountability program has found evidence of rorting by schools. It shows that schools were classifying low-performing students into exempt categories that are excluded from the school performance grading so as to artificially raise their test scores. < >> Read on...

Canberra Private School Sets a Great Example on NAPLAN

Posted on Saturday May 11, 2013

A Canberra private school has set a great example for other schools in dealing with NAPLAN and informing parents that they can withdraw their child from the tests. >> Read on...

Yes, There is Something Fishy About NAPLAN (and My School)

Posted on Monday May 6, 2013

A television commercial linking a children’s fish-oil supplement to NAPLAN tests produced an outcry last week. A whole industry is being built around NAPLAN testing that is undermining a balanced education and lifestyle for young children. >> Read on...

More Evidence that Test-Based Accountability Narrows the Curriculum

Posted on Friday May 3, 2013

A new academic study has found that test-based accountability measures in the United States have narrowed the curriculum in schools. >> Read on...

A Parent Speaks Out on the Expansion of Testing

Posted on Friday April 12, 2013

A parent says that national testing of science will ruin science education for students and teachers. >> Read on...

Share Your NAPLAN Stories

Posted on Thursday April 11, 2013

The next round of NAPLAN tests is only a few weeks away. Tell us your stories and information about the effects of NAPLAN in your school. >> Read on...

The Standardised Testing Racket

Posted on Monday April 8, 2013

Testing scandals in the United States reveal the problems ahead in Australia as NAPLAN test results are used to rank schools and reward teachers, schools and governments. >> Read on...

The Challenges of Teaching Under High-Stakes Testing

Posted on Thursday April 4, 2013

A Professor of Education says that US schools are no longer designed to produce educated citizens but rather places to produce test results. Is this the future for Australia’s schools under NAPLAN and My School?< >> Read on...

New Group to Oppose NAPLAN Tests

Posted on Tuesday April 2, 2013

A new group called The Boycott NAPLAN Coalition has been set up to oppose the NAPLAN tests. >> Read on...

The Whackiness of School League Tables

Posted on Friday March 15, 2013

School league tables provide misleading and inaccurate information about schools. They are unreliable as a measure of school quality. >> Read on...

The Rebellion Against Testing in the US Continues to Grow

Posted on Friday January 25, 2013

The rebellion against high stakes testing in the United States that began early last year has spread with teachers in Seattle refusing to administer tests and Republican legislators in Texas deciding to cut back tests.< >> Read on...

Mixed ACT Results from TIMSS & PIRLS 2011

Posted on Friday December 21, 2012

The ACT achieved mixed results in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) for 2011. ACT students achieved high average results but there was little improvement since 1995 and it has large achievement gaps in Year 8.< >> Read on...

Year 8 TIMSS Results

Posted on Tuesday December 18, 2012

A summary of the Year 8 results for Australia from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). >> Read on...

Year 4 TIMSS & PIRLS results

Posted on Monday December 17, 2012

A summary of the Year 4 results for Australia from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). >> Read on...

Study Reveals the Damage to Education by NAPLAN and My School

Posted on Friday November 30, 2012

A new study shows that NAPLAN and My School have diminished education by encouraging teaching to the test and narrowing the curriculum. The well-being of many very young children is also being affected around test time. >> Read on...

Many Schools Have High Withdrawal Rates from NAPLAN

Posted on Monday November 26, 2012

Some schools have very high withdrawal rates from NAPLAN. The average withdrawal rate across Australia in 2011 was between one and two per cent. Nearly 300 schools had 10 per cent or more of their students withdrawn and 78 had over 25 per cent withdrawn. >> Read on...

Big Increase in Students Withdrawn from NAPLAN Tests

Posted on Thursday November 22, 2012

There has been a big increase in the percentage of students withdrawn from the NAPLAN tests since 2008. Continuation of this trend will affect the reliability of school and interstate comparisons of the NAPLAN results. >> Read on...

National Rebellion Against High-Stakes Testing in the US

Posted on Monday November 12, 2012

A national rebellion against high stakes testing in the United States is growing. >> Read on...

NAPLAN Results Linked to Parents’ Income

Posted on Monday November 5, 2012

Pre-service teachers discover that NAPLAN results are closely linked to parent income. >> Read on...

Survey Finds that NAPLAN Has a Detrimental Effect on Education

Posted on Friday October 26, 2012

A survey of teachers has found that NAPLAN is having a detrimental effect on classroom learning by narrowing the curriculum, teaching to the test, reducing student engagement and increasing student stress. >> Read on...

Education is More Than Test Scores

Posted on Monday October 22, 2012

A new paper shows that the current emphasis on test scores as measures of education success could diminish education because it ignores the fact that education is more than test scores. The Prime Minister and the education minister do not appear to understand this.< >> Read on...

A Principal Speaks Out on NAPLAN

Posted on Wednesday October 17, 2012

A principal speaks out against NAPLAN to the Say No To NAPLAN group. >> Read on...

Targetting East Asian Test Scores Will Bring East Asian Afflictions

Posted on Monday October 8, 2012

Setting East Asian test scores as the benchmark of education success could bring the East Asian afflictions of “tiger mothers” putting intense pressure on children to get high test scores through long hours of homework and private tutoring with an emphasis on rote learning and memorisation. >> Read on...

Testing is Robbing Children of their Childhood and Health

Posted on Friday June 8, 2012

The immense pressure surrounding standardised tests in China, the United States and Australia is robbing young children of their childhood and even their health. >> Read on...

NAPLAN Crowds Out Other Education Goals

Posted on Friday June 1, 2012

Using NAPLAN as a single indicator of school quality focuses school improvement efforts on these test results. It ‘crowds out’ other education goals. >> Read on...

What NAPLAN Test Prep Has in Common With Trains Skipping Stations

Posted on Monday May 28, 2012

Melbourne’s suburban trains and schools are subject to Campbell’s Law – using one performance indicator to judge service quality ultimately degrades quality. >> Read on...

Is This What We Really Want for Education?

Posted on Tuesday May 22, 2012

US schools are also in their standardized testing season. An article on the Washington Post website spells out the cost to education of high-stakes testing. >> Read on...

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...

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