Today We Are All Garfield Teachers!
We all knew that we would get to this point someday, that, somewhere, teachers would decide that their students were not served well by the proliferation of testing, test preparation, and test stress. We knew that someday and somewhere, teachers would declare that their students should come first and that their declaration would be written in civil disobedience. That is the American way, not to mention a teacher's responsibility.
Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington, is the somewhere, and the someday is now. The Garfield teachers unanimously decided to refuse to administer the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test. These teachers believe that this test is not valid at the high-school level. They assert that it hurts English-language learners and special needs students. They know that students do not take it seriously because it has no impact on their grades but that school officials want to use it as a part of teacher evaluation. The Garfield teachers have determined that the time testing takes away from instruction does not meet the educators' test of good practice and ethical behavior for professionals. Every teacher in America can relate to these