A backlash against high-stakes standardized testing is sweeping through U.S. school districts as parents, teachers, and administrators protest that the exams are unfair, unreliable and unnecessarily punitive - and even some longtime advocates of testing call for changes.
The objections come even as federal and state authorities pour hundreds of millions of dollars into developing new tests, including some for children as young as 5.
In a growing number of states, scores on standardized tests weigh heavily in determining whether an 8-year-old advances to the next grade with her classmates; whether a teen can get his high school diploma; which teachers keep their jobs; how much those teachers are paid; and even which public schools are shut down or turned over to private management.
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Operation Walk Out will take place on November 30th in solidarity with The National Association of Head Teachers.
Students and teachers have been greatly impacted by the economic crisis.
Our teachers have been continually laid off and schools have lost funding due to budget cuts.
We need to send our government a message, our education should be top priority.
The Walk Out will begin at 12 p.m. in all schools.
We ask students, teachers and faculty to march against education cuts and tuition hikes.
We shall be heard.
[ACAPULCO, MEXICO] The message is delivered by a phone call to the office of one school, a sheaf of photocopied papers dropped off at another, a banner hung outside a third.
The demand is the same: teachers have until Oct. 1 to start handing over half of their pay. If they do not, they risk their lives.
(via Mexican Teachers Push Back Against Gangs’ Extortion Attempt - NYTimes.com)
This is how powerful gangs have gotten south of the borders thanks to unregulated cash from America’s war on drugs.
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I don’t know where I would be today if my teachers’ job security was based on how I performed on some standardized test. If their very survival as teachers was based on whether I actually fell in love with the process of learning but rather if I could fill in the right bubble on a test. If they had to spend most of their time desperately drilling us and less time encouraging creativity and original ideas; less time knowing who we were, seeing our strengths and helping us realize our talents.
I honestly don’t know where I’d be today if that was the type of education I had. I sure as hell wouldn’t be here. I do know that.
This has been a horrible decade for teachers. I can’t imagine how demoralized you must feel. But I came here today to deliver an important message to you: As I get older, I appreciate more and more the teachers that I had growing up. And I’m not alone. There are millions of people just like me.
Matt Damon’s clear-headed speech to teachers rally - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post
So Matt Damon flew to DC to march with the teachers. And said this. And I still love Matt Damon.
(via champagnecandy)
Not every teacher is a good teacher, but without good teachers, and without a good process for TEACHING, we are NOWHERE.
(via carnivaloftherandom)
This makes me still have hope in becoming an art teacher, specially since I can relate with much what he says. I still remember all of the good teachers I had and what actually did help me pass.
Dr. Asha Samad Matias, director of the Women’s Studies Program and Professor of African Studies at City College, speaks at “Stop U.S./NATO War on Libya” event at New York’s Riverside Church, July 30, 2011.
Photo by G. Dunkel
