education organizing in Texas

[colist-admin at comm-org.utoledo.edu]

[ed: since education organizing comes up regularly on COMM-
ORG, I thought a number of you might be interested in this.]

From: "Hampton, Elaine" <ehampton at utep.edu>

feel free to contact me for more information, Elaine Hampton 
texastesting at msn.com  915-373-3627   

As the rest of the nation moves toward the Texas educational 
model driven by one test, Texas educators and parents are 
struggling to move away from test-driven education.   

For too long in Texas, critical decisions about how children's 
learning is assessed have been made by people with little or no 
background or experience in education-and with no real 
understanding of what is at stake. Their decisions have driven the 
curriculum to nothing more than short-answer drills and months of 
test preparation activities. And worse, their decisions have 
slammed the door of opportunity in the faces of many Texas 
learners. This has to change.   

There is a strong movement in Texas to change the test-driven 
educational focus that legislators have created and that is 
spreading across the nation. A group of educators, parents, 
students, and others who know the impact this is having based on 
mountains of research plus their own experiences have united to 
make changes. Two important bills will be introduced in the Texas 
Legislature this year allowing multiple measures. If passed, they 
will be the first steps in making some of the changes vital to save 
so many children from failure.   

This group, Texans for Quality Assessment (TQA), is hosting a 
press conference and rally on the south steps of the capitol building 
in Austin on Saturday, January 25 at 3:00. More information is 
available on the webpage www.texastesting.org 
<http://www.texastesting.org>.