On behalf of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado, Kevin Welner and William Mathis have written an excellent overview of the failure of standardized testing as the driver of educational reform.
Here is the summary:
“In this Policy Memo, Kevin Welner and William Mathis discuss the broad research consensus that standardized tests are ineffective and even counterproductive when used to drive educational reform. Yet the debates in Washington over the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act largely ignore the harm and misdirection of these test-focused reforms. As a result, the proposals now on the table simply gild a demonstrably ineffective strategy, while crowding out policies with proven effectiveness. Deep-rooted trends of ever-increasing social and educational needs, as well as fewer or stagnant resources, will inevitably lead to larger opportunity gaps and achievement gaps. Testing will document this, but it will do nothing to change…
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Crazy Normal - the Classroom Exposé 
booklady
February 26, 2015 at 07:00
Lloyd, AFSA Feb 25 blog post “Newark Renew Schools Reform Effort Fails Again” (re Alliance for Newark Public Schools 2nd report showing that “creatively disrupting” urban schools doesn’t get higher performance on tests) may be of interest to you & your readers.
Lloyd Lofthouse
February 26, 2015 at 08:39
Thank you. Here’s the link to The American Federation of School Administrators:
And the summary on the site:
A report just released by the Alliance for the Newark Public Schools clearly reveals the failure of Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson’s Renew School Reform attempt. This Report augments the findings in the Alliances first report, released in December 2014, which also revealed the failure of the Renew School scheme.
This results of this Second Report, which can be found here, demonstrated that the Renew Schools seriously lagged or lagged its peer schools across the State of New Jersey. The second Report also revealed that the Renew Schools failed to meet any of the 56 academic performance targets as required under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Because of this failure under NCLB, federal funding is now in jeopardy.
Other Renew School failures were also revealed in the Report. Stay tuned for more on this topic.
To read the report, click the link:
Click to access 2015-02-24-Report.pdf
In addition, there is this video that is on YouTube:
> 25,000 members across the country
> Founded in 1976
Information from Wiki:
The American Federation of School Administrators or AFSA represents public school principals, vice principals, administrators, and supervisors in the United States. The trade union belongs to the AFL-CIO as one of the organizations smallest members.
The union was established by the Council of Supervisory Associations, a local union representing principals and other supervisors in the New York City Department of Education. Rather than becoming a directly affiliated local union, the AFL-CIO chartered the organization as the School Administrators and Supervisors Organizing Committee.
Because the Taft–Hartley Act does not recognize supervisors as union-eligible under federal law, AFSA only negotiates collective bargaining agreements in states where local labor rules permit them.[2] In most areas, the organization functions as a professional association rather than a traditional union. A majority of the union’s membership remains in New York City, however.
The organization publishes The AFSA Administrator and presents the Distinguished Leadership Award to highlight member achievements.[3]