Urban Academy Panel: An Alternative to High-Stakes Testing
Held November 5, 2007
Made possible by a grant from the Tufts University Diversity Fund

We welcomed a panel of students and teachers from Urban Academy, a public school in NYC, to discuss their school's approach to assessing what students have learned. "Urban Academy is a small laboratory high school which believes that what students think and have to say are important parts of their learning" (www.urbanacademy.org/). In this spirit, Urban Academy has created a diverse community of teachers and students who model what they call "a great way to learn". Urban Academy has been designated as a National Showcase Site, has been recognized as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, and has been awarded by the Public Education Association for Excellence in Teaching. Urban Academy is a founding member of the New York Performance Standards Consortium, an organization of 28 small, highly successful schools in New York State who oppose the mandated New York State Regents Examinations, as well as other high-stakes tests.