Chicago Teachers Union launches Let Us Teach Campaign to Protest Tests that 'Undermine Education'
Teachers in Chicago launch a campaign to push back the standardized tests. These teachers see these tests as a “major drain on classroom time, undermine education, and stand in stark contrast to the proven student assessment tools." The Let Us Teach campaign encourages parents to let their students opt out of the standardized testing. This campaign also encourages the Chicago Public School to put an end to testing children in 2nd grade and below.
Popular Resistance. PopularResistance.Org, 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
Chronicle, 22 June 2012. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. .
STAAR Falls on Texas Schools
In Austin, protesters voice their opinions about the STAAR test. From the results the AISD (Austin Independent School District) recieved they noticed a correlation between the students (such as Hispanics and African Americans) who have english as their second language, doing poorly on the reading and english standardized tests. According to austinchronicle.com, only 16 % of Asian students and 18 % of white studnets failed the English 1 Reading test, but that number increases to 41 % for Hispanic stduents! Students complain that they are not just a test score, and that they should not be judged by a simple number on their test, but by the amount of progression they have made throughout the year.
Mom: My Autistic Son ‘Is Lost in a Sea of Standards’ at School
Strauss, Valerie. "Mom: My autistic son ‘is lost in a sea of standards’ at school." Wasington Post.
Washington Post, 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
Dear “Is Anybody Listening?,”
Several weeks ago I sat down with my son’s teacher and listened to her tell me what her priorities are for him for this year. She revealed that she is largely focused on reading comprehension and, to a lesser extent, writing. It is indisputable that those are areas of high need for him. But what she had forgotten and said very little about, until I mentioned it, was language and social interaction. I could see a light bulb go off in her head. Suddenly she understood. Yes, of course, I must work on those too. Then I saw something else. It was something I can only describe as concern, although an insufficient descriptor. She started talking about all of the third grade standards. She handed me copies of the standards which she had already printed out, tucked safely inside page protectors. The teacher began to ponder, ‘How will I address the core deficits of his disability in the midst of teaching the standards? Oh, maybe there would be a few minutes during group work or perhaps during a pull out session, but there’s so much to work on academically…’
We are over half way through the first nine weeks and, although every member of his team is working hard, Jackson is so lost. He’s lost in a sea of standards and expectations for him to think critically and explain every answer. It takes much more than raising the bar or saying you believe students with disabilities can achieve for them to actually achieve. You see, he has only answered a “why” question a handful of times in his life. Now he’s asked “why,” “how” and “explain your answer” all day long. What do you think is going to happen when you test and assess him? He is going to fail. It will look as though he cannot and has not achieved.
Let me tell you what he has done, though. Jackson had been permitted to isolate himself from all the children on the school playground for the last 2 years. We were less than one week into the school year and Jackson was no longer standing next to the wall, far away from his peers. He was under a tree next to the playground. Fast forward a few more weeks and he has played on the equipment a few times, but more spectacularly, he is engaging and playing a game of “I see you” with a little girl in his class. She enjoys him. She likes him. He likes her. They play together for a few minutes every day. No standardized assessment he will take this year or any year will reflect that progress. No teacher or related service provider will be rewarded for their role in facilitating this achievement. After all, it’s not one of the standards. It’s not on “the test.”
As an advocate, some days are very challenging when both working and living in the disability world. There are no breaks. There is no escape. I sit in rooms with educational leaders who make statements about the 43 percent (of students with disabilities who passed the tests last year) and then I come home to the sweetest little boy who falls in the 57 percent. A boy who has an amazing ability to tolerate the world around him, but who no longer wants to go to school. How will it get any better? When will it get any better?
It only seems like we’re heading in the opposite direction of improving outcomes for kids like Jackson.
Rebecca Ellis
Mandeville, Louisiana
Oscar Mata and his mother Andrea.
Kolker, Robert. "The Opt-Outers." New York 24 Nov. 2013: n. pag. Print.
The Opt-Outers
A seven-year old named Oscar Mata was informed that he was failing school. His parents, Andrea and Juan, say that "Oscar is great at math and loved science, music, and art. He loved reading, too, until he started to get tested on it." “His interest in school,” says Andrea, his mother, “took this immediate plummet.” Andrea felt that her son wasn't as happy with this new teaching style at the school. The school had now sent out homework that looked like test prep, even with bubble sheets! The school started teaching Oscar differently, and because of that he lost "whatever spark of curiosity inspired him to want to learn", and of course for students who don't want to learn there is a punishment. Interactive projects “would just kind of fizzle out and disappear because there wasn't time to do them,” says Andrea.
At Oscar Mata's school, the grades were basically centered around the test scores, the test scores counted for 85 percent of the final grade! All these factors made Andrea upset and consider taking Oscar out of the school. "The potential ramifications were a mystery to her, but in a way, she thought, the worst had already happened. Her son just didn't like school anymore."
Andrea eventually started attending meetings at Oscars school, where the parents would talk about problems that were hard to handle. By early 2012, Andrea started considering the idea of having her son not take the test. She realized rebelling would be hard alone, so she decided to get parents together. In the spring of 2012, 113 students in New York City, including Oscar, opted out of one or both of the state tests.
As the years went on, more and more students opted out of the tests, and had to create a portfolio assessment, this was the alternative for not taking or failing the test. Even though the students still had to present themselves, and prove themselves worthy of going to the next grade, they made their point by not taking the test.
Dunkel, Greg. "The Opt-Outers." New York Magazine. New York Media, 24 Nov. 2013.
Web. 13 Feb. 2014.Finke, Brian. "Oscar Mata and Mother." New York Magazine. New York Media, 24
Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
According to popularresistance.org:
Testing Resistance & Reform News: October 31 – November 7, 2013
New NAEP Scores Add to Evidence of Failed Test-and-Punish Policies
http://www.fairtest.org/fairtest-news-release-2013-naep-results-added-evid
What Happens When Parents Stand Up and Say “No” to Testing
http://www.alternet.org/education/what-happens-when-parents-stand-and-sa…
New York Advocates, School Leaders Say “No” to State Tests
http://www.thesunnews.net/news/407-NYS_Allies_for_Public_Education,_scho…
NYC High School Students Boycott Tests Used for Teacher Evaluation
http://gothamschools.org/2013/10/30/students-at-elite-high-school-boycot…
Momentum Grows Against High-Stakes Testing & Zero Tolerance
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2013/11/momentum_gro…
Turn On, Tune In, Opt Out
http://www.thenation.com/blog/176994/turn-tune-opt-out#
More Than 270 Tests/Year in Pittsburgh; Enough is Enough
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2013/11/03/With-more-than-270-tes…
Breaking Point: Florida Testing Overkill Has Students, Parents, Teachers on Edge
http://www.news-press.com/article/20131103/NEWS0104/311030050/Testing-So…
Parents Rail Against High-Stakes Testing
http://www.news-press.com/article/20131103/NEWS0104/311030043/Parents-ra…
Testing Culture Kills Kids’ Creativity
http://www.psmag.com/culture/kills-creativity-standardized-testing-child…
See the Letter to Pres. Obama by 120+ Children’s Authors and Illustrators
http://www.fairtest.org/public-letter-on-standardized-testing-by-childre…
Parents Can Fight Back Against Common Core Testing
http://www.uticaod.com/guest/x2132751520/GUEST-VIEW-Parents-can-fight-ba…
State Senator Says Legislators Should be Forced to Take Common Core Tests
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2013/10/8535336/senator-l…
A Ridiculous Common Core Test for First Graders
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/31/a-ridicul…
Weingarten: Common Core Testing Timetable Even Worse Than Obamacare Rollout
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2013/11/8535497/weingarte…
Transition to Online Testing Raises Concerns
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/10/30/10pencil_ep.h33.html
Autistic Child Lost in a Sea of Common Core Testing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/31/mom-my-au…
Common Core Myths and Realities Infographic & Fact Sheet
http://fairtest.org/fairtest-infographic-common-core-more-tests-not-be
Professing and Parenting in an Age of Testing Madness
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-a-aja/professing-and-parenting-to-the…
Demanding More Testing, Feds Threaten to Hold Back $3.5 Billion from California Schools
http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_24422002/u-s-threatens-take-3-52…
Local Penn. School Boards Pass Resolution Calling on State to End Graduation Test
http://mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2013/11/05/main_line_suburban_life…
N.J. Gov. Christie Tries to Bully Test-Critic Teacher . . . Again
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/11/03/gov-chris…
Virginia School Boards Warn Next Governor to Reduce Testing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/11/04/a-warning…
N.Y. Principals Say Test-Based Job Evaluations Are Inaccurate, Unfair
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/frustrated-school-principal…
Quality Assessment for Educational Excellence Conversation with FairTest Board Member Ann Cook and others
http://www.shankerinstitute.org/quality-assessment-excellence-registration/
A New “No Excuses” Agenda for Improving Schools
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/31/a-new-no-…
All information was directly taken from popularresistance.org, none of the information presented above is owned by the author of this website. All credits due to popularresistance.org.
Alperovitz, Gar, and Jack Balkwill, eds. Popular Resistance. PopularResistance.Org, 2014. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.
