I Support the Garfield High School Teachers in Seattle

I have never understood the logic behind standardized testing, nor do I see myself ever being swayed to that dark side either. Even before I ventured into the public school classroom as a teacher, I had already experienced my own issues with standardized testing and knew they were skewed. At least at the university level, they seem to understand the inaccuracies of these tests, so one can demonstrate abilities or knowledge through other means.  This incongruence begs the question—why the hell hasn’t our public schools K-12 come to their senses yet? 

By the end of this school year, I will have given up almost six weeks of valuable classroom time to administer some sort of standardized test to my students. That’s six weeks’ worth of learning opportunities straight down the toilet.

The last test I administered was two weeks ago. My students and I were stuck in a computer lab that we had to share with other classes, and the heating/air conditioning system was not functioning properly. If I had to guess, temperatures wavered between 80-90 degrees throughout the day. As I expected, many students were lethargic and struggled to just stay awake, let alone concentrate on readings and questions about language usage and reading comprehension.

Parents need to become informed because they are the only ones who can legally boycott these tests without legal repercussions. The role these tests have taken on in our education system has not been by accident. And frankly, a very small group of people is making considerable amounts of money (tax dollars) from our nation’s schools that require these tests.

Please stand up and support your teachers. You can begin by supporting the Garfield High School teachers in Seattle, WA: http://www.democracynow.org/2013/1/29/seattles_teacher_uprising_high_school_faculty