Victory in Seattle as Teachers Win Battle in Standardized Test Boycott
Controversial test will not be given in high schools next year, but teachers vow to continue until test is removed at all grade levels
Seattle teachers who took a strong and public stance by refusing to administer a "flawed" but mandatory standardized test earlier this school year are celebrating a victory after an announcement by the school district saying the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test will not be given to high school students next year.
"Finally, educators’ voices have been acknowledged,” said teacher Jesse Hagopian, who teaches history at Garfield High School in Seattle where the boycott movement began. “This is a great moment in the movement for quality assessment.”
"The teachers at Garfield are overwhelmed with joy," Hagopian said. “I think this is a real vindication of the movement that was started at Garfield High School by teachers but was quickly joined by parents and students at our school, and around the city, and really around the country.”
The district's decision was announced in a letter sent to school administrations throughout the city on Monday and followed on the recommendations of a review panel that looked at the testing regime and determined it was not "effective for high school-age students."
As local NPR affiliate KUOW reports:
The district requires that students in Seattle Public Schools take the MAP test in reading and math two or three times a year, from kindergarten through ninth