Standardized Test Boycotts, Protests Gain Momentum Around U.S.
The Huffington Post | By Tyler Kingkade
High school students and teachers in cities around the U.S. have decided they hate standardized tests so much, they’re just not going to take them, according to news reports.
At Garfield High School — the Seattle, Wash., alma mater of Jimi Hendrix, rapper Macklemore and Quincy Jones — teachers voted unanimously to “refuse to administer the Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, test on ethical and professional grounds.” In an op-ed explaining the decision, history teacher Jesse Hagopian made the case that students already face enough standardized tests, and his pupils view the MAP test less seriously because “their scores don’t factor into their grades or graduation status.”
“We at Garfield are not against accountability or demonstrating student progress,” Hagopian wrote. “We do insist on a form of assessment relevant to what we’re teaching in the classroom.”
The Times also reports that Garfield teachers had the support of the PTSA, and many parents chose to opt their children out of the tests or keep them home when administrators forced the school to administer the tests.
Meanwhile, high school students in Portland, Ore., launched an opt-out campaign against a series of state-mandated standardized tests called the Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, according to U.S. News & World Report.
These students and teachers are adopting a tactic from the National Opt Out Day movement, which started last year when No Child Left Behind turned 10 years old. NCLB mandated standardized testing of students, and has often been criticized for creating a culture of “teaching to the tests.”
That was among the reasons cited by Portland Student Union member Alexia Garcia to the Washington Post in describing why they had organized in Portland.
Oringinally Posted on: 02/20/2013 READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE at The Huff Post