Last week was a good one in terms of contacting Senators about testing and ESEA. Senators received many calls, and FairTest reported that more than 10,000 e-mails were sent as part of the April 8 action.

The Senate is expected to continue working on the legislation in the coming week, If you didn’t get a chance to call, you can still send an e-mail through FairTest, at: http://www.fairtest.org/roll-back-standardized-testing-send-letter-congres.

You can use the FairTest letter, or write your own. When you get to the page, fill in your contact information and then click on “Start Writing.” A sample letter will appear. You can then choose to send that letter or write your own. It only takes a few minutes.

In addition, anyone who has children with special needs should read the recent Diane Ravitch post about ESEA and students with disabilities. If you share Diane’s concerns, you should call the offices of senators Lamar Alexander (202) 224-4944, Patty Murray (202) 224-2621, and Richard Burr (202) 224-3154 to tell them about your own experiences with testing.