Michelle Gunderson Offers Pledge for Ethical Use of Student Data
I attended the Occupy Department of Education 2.0 protest in Washington, DC, last week, and had a chance to spend some time with Chicago elementary teacher Michelle Gunderson. Michelle has become concerned about the myriad ways in which student data is now being used, and she shared with me this Personal Pledge for the Ethical Use of Student Data. She explains why she feels this is needed:
Michelle Gunderson: When I first started teaching in the Chicago Schools standardized tests were used as sorting instruments. Our students were given the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), a multiple choice test which involved reading passages, math computation, and math problem solving. At the end of the year, these scores along with grades and teacher recommendations were used to sort kids into piles, and we had classrooms labeled as "high, low, and bi-lingual" at our school.
Then in 1995 with the passage of the Illinois Education Reform Act and the CPS promotion policy, I saw testing as a tool for punishment. Children in 3rd, 6th, and 8th grades were placed in summer school with threat of retention if their scores on the ITBS fell below certain cut scores. Schools were also put on probation and threatened with closings based on test
Michelle Gunderson: When I first started teaching in the Chicago Schools standardized tests were used as sorting instruments. Our students were given the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), a multiple choice test which involved reading passages, math computation, and math problem solving. At the end of the year, these scores along with grades and teacher recommendations were used to sort kids into piles, and we had classrooms labeled as "high, low, and bi-lingual" at our school.
Then in 1995 with the passage of the Illinois Education Reform Act and the CPS promotion policy, I saw testing as a tool for punishment. Children in 3rd, 6th, and 8th grades were placed in summer school with threat of retention if their scores on the ITBS fell below certain cut scores. Schools were also put on probation and threatened with closings based on test
