Children’s Authors, Illustrators Alarmed at Excessive Tests
for immediate release -- Tuesday, October 22, 2013
120+ CHILDREN’S BOOK AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS TELL PRES. OBAMA, “WE ARE ALARMED AT NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF EXCESSIVE SCHOOL TESTING” SIGNERS INCLUDE MAYA ANGELOU, JUDY BLUME, JULES FEIFFER, DONALD CREWS SAY POLICIES UNDERMINE “CHILDREN’S LOVE OF READING AND LITERATURE”
More than 120 leading authors and illustrators of books for children, including several national award winners, are calling on President Obama to “change the way we assess learning so that schools nurture creativity, exploration, and a love of literature.”
Their letter delivered to the White House today stated, “Our public schools spend far too much time preparing for reading tests and too little time curling up with books that fire their imaginations.”
“All children must have the freedom to grow, to evolve, to develop,” explained acclaimed poet Maya Angelou, who spoke at President Obama's inauguration. “We parents, authors, illustrators are standing up for our children. We desperately need you and your administration to stand with us.”
The authors’ and illustrators’ letter continued, “We are alarmed at the negative impact of excessive school testing mandates, including your administration’s own initiatives, on children’s love of reading and literature. Recent policy changes by your Administration have not lowered the stakes. On the contrary, requirements to evaluate teachers on student test scores impose more standardized exams and crowd out exploration.”
Signers of a “Public Letter on Standardized Testing from Authors and Illustrators of Books for Children and Youth” include such other notables as Alma Flor Ada, Judy Blume, Jules Feiffer, and Donald Crews, as well as National Book Award winners Kathryn Erskine and Phillip Hoose.
The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) coordinated signature gathering for the letter. The assessment reform organization’s executive director, Dr. Monty Neill, explained, “The authors and illustrators recognize the damage done to young children by testing overkill. The new Common Core assessments will not reverse the damage. In fact, they will mandate more standardized exams in more grades. It is time for an indefinite moratorium on high-stakes exams.”
- The letter to President Obama
with a complete signers’ list of children’s authors and
illustrators is online at: http://www.fairtest.org/public-letter-on-standardized-testing-by-childrens-authors
- A fact sheet on Common Core assessments is at: http://fairtest.org/common-core-assessments-factsheet
Public
Letter on Standardized Testing from Authors and Illustrators
of Books for Children and Youth
October 22, 2013
President Barack Obama
The White
House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama,
We the undersigned children’s book authors and illustrators write to express our concern for our readers, their parents and teachers. We are alarmed at the negative impact of excessive school testing mandates, including your Administration’s own initiatives, on children’s love of reading and literature. Recent policy changes by your Administration have not lowered the stakes. On the contrary, requirements to evaluate teachers based on student test scores impose more standardized exams and crowd out exploration.
We call on you to support authentic performance assessments, not simply computerized versions of multiple-choice exams. We also urge you to reverse the narrowing of curriculum that has resulted from a fixation on high-stakes testing.
Our public school students spend far too much time preparing for reading tests and too little time curling up with books that fire their imaginations. As Michael Morpurgo, author of the Tony Award Winner War Horse, put it, “It's not about testing and reading schemes, but about loving stories and passing on that passion to our children.”
Teachers, parents and students agree with British author Philip Pullman who said, “We are creating a generation that hates reading and feels nothing but hostility for literature.” Students spend time on test practice instead of perusing books. Too many schools devote their library budgets to test-prep materials, depriving students of access to real literature. Without this access, children also lack exposure to our country’s rich cultural range.
This year has seen a growing national wave of protest against testing overuse and abuse. As the authors and illustrators of books for children, we feel a special responsibility to advocate for change. We offer our full support for a national campaign to change the way we assess learning so that schools nurture creativity, exploration, and a love of literature from the first day of school through high school graduation.
Alma Flor Ada
Alma
Alexander
Jane Ancona
Maya Angelou
Jonathan
Auxier
Kim Baker
Molly Bang
Tracy Barrett
Chris
Barton
Ari Berk
Judy Blume
Alfred B. (Fred)
Bortz
Lynea Bowdish
Sandra Boynton
Shellie
Braeuner
Ethriam Brammer
Louann Mattes Brown
Anne
Broyles
Michael Buckley
Janet Buell
Dori Hillestad
Butler
Charito Calvachi-Mateyko
Valerie Scho
Carey
Rene Colato Lainez
Henry Cole
Ann
Cook
Karen Coombs
Robert Cortez
Cynthia
Cotten
Bruce Coville
Ann Crews
Donald Crews
Nina
Crews
Rebecca Kai Dotlich
Laura Dower
Kathryn
Erskine
Jules Feiffer
Jody Feldman
Mary Ann
Fraser
Sharlee Glenn
Barbara Renaud Gonzalez
Laurie
Gray
Trine M. Grillo
Claudia Harrington
Sue
Heavenrich
Linda Oatman High
Anna Grossnickle
Hines
Lee Bennett Hopkins
Phillip Hoose
Diane M.
Hower
Michelle Houts
Mike Jung
Kathy Walden
Kaplan
Amal Karzai
Jane Kelley
Elizabeth
Koehler-Pentacoff
Amy Goldman Koss
JoAnn Vergona
Krapp
Nina Laden
Sarah Darer Littman
José Antonio
López
Mariellen López
Jenny MacKay
Marianne
Malone
Ann S. Manheimer
Sally Mavor
Diane
Mayr
Marissa Moss
Yesenia Navarrete Hunter
Sally
Nemeth
Kim Norman
Geraldo Olivo
Alexis
O’Neill
Anne Marie Pace
Amado Peña
Irene
Peña
Lynn Plourde
Ellen Prager, PhD
David
Rice
Armando Rendon
Joan Rocklin
Judith Robbins
Rose
Sergio Ruzzier
Barb Rosenstock
Liz Garton
Scanlon
Lisa Schroeder
Sara Shacter
Wendi
Silvano
Janni Lee Simner
Sheri Sinykin
Jordan
Sonnenblick
Ruth Spiro
Heidi E.Y. Stemple
Whitney
Stewart
Shawn K. Stout
Steve Swinburne
Carmen
Tafolla
Kim Tomsic
Duncan Tonatiuh
Patricia
Thomas
Kristin O'Donnell Tubb
Deborah
Underwood
Corina Vacco
Audrey Vernick
Debbie
Vilardi
Judy Viorst
K. M. Walton
Wendy Wax
April
Halprin Wayland
Carol Weis
Rosemary Wells
Lois
Wickstrom
Suzanne Morgan Williams
Kay
Winters
Ashley Wolff
Lisa Yee
Karen Romano
Young
Jane Yolen
Roxyanne Young
Paul O.
Zelinsky
Jennifer Ziegler
CC: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan