Advancing Education and Promoting Equal Opportunity by

Removing Mandated Standardized Test

A Proposal to Albuquerque Public School Board from FairTest
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) as well as the No Child Left Behind Act has been
implemented in the state of New Mexico since 2011. Since then, graduation rates have gone up
and students have been doing better in the classroom. However, with CCSS and The No Child
Left Behind Act, standardized tests come to existence. With each passing school year, more and
more tests are being implemented into public schools each year and these tests are beginning to
become a huge issue. Students now have to take the ACCESS test, several End of Course Exams,
the High School Interim Assessment, the NCSC, the NMAPA, PARCC tests, PSAT, PACT,
SAT, ACT, and the SBA test (Assessment Date). Not to mention whatever AP tests, in-class
tests, and final exams that high school students have to take. Additionally, most of these tests are
not taken only once. These tests do nothing but make teachers lose their creativity in their
teaching, make poor schools lose even more money, and teach students that school is based on
tests.
In this proposal, we, associates of FairTest, suggest a method of reform on mandatory
standardized testing in New Mexico. We suggest changing the emphasis of some of the test.
Implementation of this reform will lead to excess in budget for schools to use for other things.
The money can be used to hire more skilled teachers, which will ultimately increase New
Mexicos education status nationally.
Future teachers living in the state of New Mexico are terrified of their future, because they do not
want to teach material solely for a test. They want to implement their own creativity. Future
parents are planning to move before they have children, purely because they do not want their
children to believe that test scores define them. The schools in the state of New Mexico are
slowly becoming robotic because Skandera and Martinez refuse to believe that standardized tests
are not necessary. Neither of which, however, have ever worked as an educator or any
occupation within the school setting. Schools used to be about getting an education. Now, its
about passing test after test. When will it end? We stand for teachers. We stand for bringing the
fun back into New Mexico public schools.

The Test Reform Needs at Albuquerque Public Schools

Its no secret that testing has been a huge issue in Albuquerque Public Schools for several years
now. APS now requires seven different standardized tests and all of which are taken multiple
times. The standardized tests that are required are ACCESS, End of Course Exam, High School
Interim Assessment, NCSC, NMAPA, and PARCC. The ACCESS test (Assessing
Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners) is
given to English language learners in grades K-12th to measure ELLs proficiency in learning the
English language. The End of Course Exams are given at the end of each semester for all grades
for several different subjects. Both of these tests are used to assess what the student should be
learning for each subject. The High School Interim Assessment is given to students in grades 3-8

and possibly in grades 9-12 (if necessary). This test is also a supplementary test to the End of
Course Exams. Teachers use these tests to assess whether students are staying on track in their
courses. The NCSC (National Center and State Collaborative) is a test given to students with
cognitive disabilities to assess whether they are able to leave high school or not. The NMAPA
(New Mexico Alternative Placement Assessment) are tests given several times during the year to
assess students placement in classes. The PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for
College and Careers), which are newly implemented, is a test that is given to check whether
students are on the right track to go to college (Assessment Date).

Timeline of Standardized Testing becoming implemented

No Child Left Behind

Act is signed.

NM schools adopt CCSSI

policies and add
Standardized test.

2002

2014

1965

2009

ESEA is signed in
order to decrease
poverty.

Common core State

Standards is signed.

2015
PARCC test is
implemented.

Hanna Skandera, Secretary of the public education department, and Susana Martinez, our
governor, personally believe that these tests are a measure of proficiency for the students,
teachers, and the schools. There are many reasons, however, that prove that these standardized
tests are not an accurate measure of proficiency, especially in the state of New Mexicogiven
its demographics compared to Californias. With an estimated $1.7 billion a year that goes into
standardized testing, these tests should be doing more good than bad, but that is not the case.
A good majority of class time is being used in order to train children to pass these slew of
standardized tests that are used to rank schools and award money to the schools that do well. If
you are a local to the area, then you have probably seen segments on the news, articles in the
paper, or angry moms and teachers ranting on Facebook about the quality and unfairness of these
tests. The issue here is that students are no longer able to learn and teachers have no creative
rights to their curriculum because of these tests (Quinlan). Since Hanna Skandera became the
Secretary of Education for New Mexico, she has tried to counter the high dropout rates and get
APS up to date with the No Child Left Behind Act by enforcing strict graduation requirements
and rigorous testing. These methods have not only made it harder for students who have all their
credits to graduate, but they also have restricted the students learning processes considerably.
Teachers, parents, and others on the school board are just as unhappy as the students who have to
take the tests. The state is using these tests to record a letter grade for the teachers teaching

style. Teachers, who were once held in high esteem in the academic community, now cannot get
jobs anywhere because of the bad grade received from the state. The other problem with using
these tests as a baseline are obvious factors such as; not everyone testing well, the material not
always matching the curriculum, individuals with certain disabilities still having to take the test,
cultural and wealth variations among the students, and other general issues with the content of
the test (Quinlan).

Over The Course of an Average

Kindergarten-12th Grade Student

Actual Class Time

Percentage of Class Time Used for TesOng

This problem resulted from the No Child Left Behind Act and New Mexico schools ranking in
the new standards of education. Skandera, who is a California native, has tried to improve our
ratings by enforcing harsh guidelines for testing Albuquerque children. New Mexico was most
recently ranked 52nd in the nation for proficiency on the NMSBA. Even though we rank low in
the nation, our graduation rate is much higher at about 68%. The pressure from the new National
Standard has pushed our already poor state to try and keep up with other states that are far more
qualified to meet these expectations. Skandera has powered through and enforced these standards
even when the state doesnt have the resources to compete with the many wealthier school
districts. In New Mexico, there are an increasing number of teachers who dont have degrees and
are teaching our children because there is a shortage of qualified teachers applying to APS. Also
students, who have graduated before, are left behind because they might not have tested well
before and this same test is now one of the requirements for our state.

Average amount of test vs. hours taken by testing

112 tests
141 hours

If we were to continue on the track we are now with APS, we are going to continue to see
schools that cannot keep up with the status quo and ultimately will fail and lose money, teachers,
and bring bad PR to our state. We will have children graduating high school with sub-par
knowledge of the courses they take in college and a higher dropout rate due to students failing
tests on senior year in high school. As one of the poorest states in the nation, we cannot afford to
bring in new members of society without an education. We should be doing everything in our

power to help the children in Albuquerque schools succeed and build a brighter future for our
city.

Our Plan: Removing Mandatory Standardized Test

The main goal of the proposal is to increase the education level of New Mexicos students by
removing mandatory standardized testing through changing the emphasis of some of the test. We
also plan on applying a new process of evaluating teachers. The 5-step process to make this
happen are: (1) Not requiring students to pass the APS in order to graduate, (2) make NMAPA
optional to any student, (3) keep the NMSBA, (4) evaluate the teachers using other means
besides testing, (5) hire better teachers to teach at schools.

Step 1: Not Requiring Students to Pass the APSs tests in Order to Graduate
This test is required to be taken and passed in order to graduate. This aspect of the test can lead
to many people to not graduate even if they have all the credits they need to graduate. So by
nullifying the graduation requirements for these assessments based tests, the new version of the
APSs test will result to a decreasing dropout rate while still being able to assess each childs
growth toward a collegiate level.

Step 2: Make NMAPA Optional to Any Student

We would also make the NMAPA placement test optional to any student who might wish to take
it for guidance in school courses. With that being said, not everyone should have to take the
same test if they are not able to perform at the level required to be successful. Those with severe
disabilities should have the option to opt out or take an alternative assessment.

Step 3: Keep the NMSBA

The NMSBA has been part of the New Mexico education system for a long time, so we decided
to only change one aspect of it. The NMSBA will be used to only track the progress of a student.
If a person gets a bad score on the test, it will not be used to judge the school or the student
taking it. Instead, a student that does not score in the proficient range on the NMSBA will have
to take additional college readiness classes. This will ensure that they are educated on areas that
they lacked before entering college. Additional tutoring should also be made available to help
children in core courses that they are not doing well in.

Step 4: Evaluate Teachers by Using Means Other than Testing

Since we plan to remove standardized testing from New Mexico, there will initially be no way to
evaluate teachers. So, we plan to evaluate teachers by assessing them for their ability to perform
their job. The teachers will be assessed by the school administration, required workshops, and inclass evaluation in order to examine their capabilities as a teacher. These option are more
effective in the long term than the test because before teachers will only teach students what will
be on the test rather than the curriculum. And if the students do well, the teacher will be
evaluated as a good teacher. But, the students will not truly learn much from the class. These

new options will not restrict or pressure the teacher into teaching only stuff that will be on the
test. The teachers will need to teach well, since they will be evaluated on how they teach and not
by the results.

Step 5: Hire Better Teachers to Teach in School

With the extra money that we will have from not implementing mandatory state testing, we can
hire better teachers for the New Mexico schools. Based on past experience and talks with people
on the board of education, there are many teachers teaching when they do not have a teaching
degree. This factor alone contributes to the low education level in New Mexico. We plan to hire
teachers based on the idea that; if the teacher themselves is deemed able to perform their job
well, then they will be the sole factor on determining whether the student is learning to the
desired level to progress in grade levels. Overall, better teachers will teach students well and
ultimately raise the education level of New Mexicos students.

Qualifications of FairTest
We are college students that represent FairTest. At FairTest, we are fully aware of the testings
affect on our state. In order to achieve more money for schools and improve the education in
New Mexico, we need to implement a new measure that does not strain the state financially. Our
organization is distinctive and capable of handling this task due to having personnel that has
experience with these test first hand. This experience varies from individuals who once took
these tests to educators who are currently on the school board. Our personnel can provide
effective and insightful methods on using tests that will help improve education in the long run.

Our Staff Members

Monty Neill, our Executive Director, has headed many reforms on test for schools since 1987.
After he achieved a doctorate at Harvard University, he then moved on to be a teacher and
administrator for pre-school, high school, and college. Years later, he became one of the chairs
of Forum on Educational Accountability and Executive Director for FairTest. He has led
FairtTest to work jointly with other nationwide organization on reforming test. These joint
operations have lead to many accomplishments and the most recent one is the suspension of
graduation test in California (FairTest Staff).
Robert Schaeffer, Public Education Director and a member of FairTests Board of Directors, has
been involved in efforts of reforming the assessment of students with FairTest since 1985. He
used to be Editorial Writer for NBC, Research Director for Joint Committee on Human Services
and Elder Affairs in Massachusetts, and a research associate for MIT. With his various skills on
many fields, he is able to provide an insightful perspective on testing. His perspective enhances
our reforms in being able to fulfill students, teachers, and schools educational needs (FairTest
Staff).
Our organization also consists of many skilled members who has or had experience in the
educational field. We have recruited individuals who share the passion of advancing the quality
of education and promoting equal opportunity. Our members are located in various states, so we

are able to receive unique information about how testing works in other locations. With many
perspectives, we are able to find the ideal way to test and have been working on spreading it to
many locations nationwide.

About FairTest and Our History

The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) has been the leading group for
educational reform from the day the organization was created. Under Monty Neills guidance,
the organization has made sure to work for and follow a common goal, which is to work towards
better education and equal chances for everyone. Along with our pursuit for better education, we
have worked to end redundant and unaccountable test.
Our organization receives support from Open Society Foundations, Bay and Paul Foundations,
Schott Foundation, New World Foundation, Wiener Educational Foundation, and National
Education Association. With great support, we were able to create reforms that advanced
education through the removal of faulty tests and disclosure of tests flaws to the public. We
achieved many accomplishments throughout the decade and they can be found on our website,
fairtest.org. Our most prominent accomplishment is producing a letter that opposed President
Bushs plan to enforce NCLB testing for high schools. This letter was influential and lead to the
rejection of the plan (Two Decades).
FairTest is growing steadily through the initiation of many other coalitions who seek the same
desire of achieving better education for all individuals. With individual who desire a better
community through education, we are well prepared for the many uphill battles in the field of
education.

FairTest, An Organization that You Can Rely On

Our personnel and experience qualifies us to provide the school board with an innovative method
of testing that will increase graduation rates, decrease drop-out rates, and improve the education
of students in New Mexico immensely. FairTest puts major emphasis on innovation, efficiency,
and open-mindedness in providing educational benefits for the community.

The Measures Benefits and Cost to Implement

To conclude, let us summarize the cost and benefits of what we are proposing. As previously
mentioned, New Mexico has hired many teachers that do not have teaching degrees. A small cost
of eliminating the several standardized tests that New Mexico has implemented is to fire the
teachers that are not qualified, and hire new teachers that are able to teach the material that
students must know in order to succeed. We suggest paying them about 45,000 a year, which is a
higher pay than the average teachers salary in the state of New Mexico. The reason for the price
is to encourage teachers to come and teach here despite the low education level. We plan to hire
about 25 new teachers, which will cost a total of $900,000 per year. This may seem costly but we
will have a large surplus in the end still. Removing mandatory standardized testing will allow
the education system to have a free $1.6 million per year to use. It would have been 1.7 million

saved, but 100,000 will be used for students who wish to take the test. So in the end, there will be
an excess of $700,000 to use on other things for schools.
Overall Cost of Implementation of our Proposal
Assets
Cost per year
Hiring teacher (25x)
-$900,000
Removing mandatory State-testing
+$1,600,000
Total
+$800,000
The benefits clearly outweigh the costs by a long shot. With a lot of excess money, they could
purchase books, desks, computers, and other educational materials to help build towards more
success for our public schools. The future of New Mexico public schools is very bright if we
implement what we are proposing. There will be good, qualified, and passionate teachers in
schools to help students succeed. There will no longer be books and desks falling apart. Lastly,
there will be newer and more advanced technology in schools. All of these results will rekindle
the creativity in teaching and students will enjoy learning again. School should be about helping
student discover new information, their passions, their interests, and their dreams. Help us make
school a good thing again, and not a burden that is placed on the future generations. Stand for
kids. Stand for teachers. Stand for bringing the fun back into New Mexico public schools.
Thank you for your time in reading our proposal and considering our plan. Our Executive
Director, Monty Neill, will get in touch with you on November 18 to talk about whether to our
plan is going to be used or not. And if we are in an agreement, then he will follow up on your
decision by getting the plan started immediately.
If you would like to know more about our organization or suggest any ideas so that will can
reach an agreement, please contact Rene Arias, one of the creators of this proposal, at 1-234-6537689 or email him at renearias7294@fair-test.com.

Works Cited
Assessment Dates & Plans. Albuquerque Public School. 2015. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.
New Mexico Statewide Assessment Program. Public Education Department. 24 Jan. 2014. Web.
30 Oct. 2015.
Quinlan, Casey. Heres What the Obama Administrations New Guidelines on Tests in Schools
Mean. Think Progress Oct. 2015. Web. 30 Oct 2015.
Robelen, Erik. How Much Time Do Students Spend Taking Tests? Education Writers
Association Oct. 2014. Web. 30 Oct 2015.
FairTest Staff and Board. FairTest. 7 Aug. 2007. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.
About FairTest. FairTest. 7 Aug. 2007. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.
Two Decades of Assessment Reform: Fairtests Achievements Over Time. FairTest. 7 Aug. 2007.
Web. 30 Oct. 2015.