Standing up

I read this article Teacher Suspended for Refusing to Give State Test and really started to think. The basic gist of the article was a middle school teacher in Washington state was suspended without pay for 2 weeks for refusing to give his students the state high-stakes test. Now that is what I call standing up for your convictions. As a union president I would never advise a member to be insubordinate, but I must respect his commitment and feel his frustration. What if a whole school, or district, or even state would do this. Who know maybe the next Arlo Guthrie would even write a song about it. Would Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. approve of such a protest?

I think most teachers will agree that a child is more than a test score, but how many of us would be will to put ourselves in that kind of peril just to show it. Maybe if we all did the effects of NCLB would not have been as devastating.

Einstine on Testing

I came across this article from Teacher Magazine and just had to pass it on. Go read the article and then finish reading the post, I'll wait.

It was the not until the last two bullet points that I really got interested. The comments about thinking on the grand scale and standardized testing being psychometrically week and causing feeling of mistrusted seem so true. People always talk about NCLB and multiple measures, and how the test does not really measure what it is suppose to, blah, blah, blah. But think about it in terms of an individual kid, picture him/her in your mind, one that you know is intelligent, articulate and engaged in their education, but is labeled as not proficient do to some PSSA score. Got that kid in your brain now. Okay answer the question, how can (insert name of child here) demonstrate, or what measure can I use, to erase the not proficient label and replace it with advanced. Got your answer, go do it, then repeat.