Reuters.com has reported that teachers in Seattle are boycotting standarized testing.
All schools are mandated to test annually, however Garfield High School in Seattle has added additional test in between state-mandated test/assessments. The teachers claim that the test is not alligned with the state-standards and should not be used to measure the teachers performance.
There are several concerns from different advocacy, teacher-unions and educational stakeholders.
Clover Codd spokesman of the Seattle School District said, "We hear their concerns, we want to work with them, but we need to do what's right for our children."
Bill Monroe, an educational leader and founder of one of the first charter schools in St. Louis, Mo says, "The problem with complaining about high stake testing in schools is that you can't change the high stakes part. Our students who have the highest stakes of all involved will still be required to know those things when applying for college admission, employment and/or taking exams such as the LSAT, ACT or SAT. Those exams will never change and our kids need to know the stuff regardless of whose job is on the line. That will never change."
Former chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools Michelle Rhee said in support of high-stakes testing, "For far too long in this country, there was no accountability. Collecting regular testing data is crucial to measuring student learning and should factor prominently in evaluations of teachers."
Van Roekel of National Education Association President Dennis told Rueters, " As soon as they use an ill-designed test to make a high-stakes decision on someone's employment, I believe it's going to be in court."
Hundreds of students participated in the boycott by refusing to take the test or sabotaging it by marking answers randomly. An additional hundreds of parents refused to allow their students to take the test.
Read a recent article about the pros and cons of assessments in American schools here: http://www.examiner.com/article/are-the-test-used-to-assess-our-children-u-s-schools-fair
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