Growing number of educators boycott standardized tests
Since 2002, standardized tests have taken on more significance because of federal mandates.
The decision by a group of Seattle teachers toboycott a standardized test this winter could spill out to other cities as a decade of frustration over testing simmers.
Teachers at Garfield High School, Seattle's largest high school, said in December that theyw would take a pass on giving the latest Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test, a diagnostic tool that also screens students for remedial or gifted classes. Given several times a year, it's also used indirectly to rate teachers, but Garfield teachers say it's not aligned to the state curriculum and produces "meaningless" results. They have until Feb. 22 to administer the test or face unpaid suspension.
Since then, teachers at two more Seattle schools have said they'll sit out the test, with the approval of leading academics and both major U.S. teachers unions.
Elsewhere, the Chicago Teachers Union this week
