» 6 triumphs to remember in the embattled struggle to end high-stakes testing and Common Core.

» 6 triumphs to remember in the embattled struggle to end high-stakes testing and Common Core.:

6 triumphs to remember in the embattled struggle to end high-stakes testing and Common Core.

Sometimes after a week or so of extreme education activism – keeping up with all the questions, disseminating information to everyone who needs it, writing legislators, listening to inept policy makers decide the fate of our students, and hearing the way students are treated by testing companies – I entertain the thought of leaving it all and doing something else. Anything else, like folding t-shirts at the GAP, being a Segway tour guide, or making iced Frappichinos at Starbucks.

I often fantasize about a tiny town in Costa Rica, where in my twenties I rented a cabana on the beach. I used my financial aid money that was supposed to go towards graduate school and stayed until the money ran out – a few months. The most important thing on my to-do list was to make it up the dirt road to a little shanty store and buy an empanada and mango juice for 30 cents. You haven’t lived until you’ve eaten a homemade empanada and sipped mango juice, while swinging in a hammock on a Costa Rican beach.

I’m not in my twenties and escaping to Costa Rica is not an option, at least not in this moment. Therefore, when I’m exhausted from fighting a seemingly endless battle, a change of perspective is in order.

When we’re constantly thinking about the end result, it helps to look in the rearview mirror and observe the victories we have achieved along the journey. In this journey to save our students from corporations wanting to destroy them, we have had several victories worth remembering in times of exhaustion.

1. Education is now on of the top 3-5 issues discussed when talking about presidential candidates.

   No longer number 25 or 30 on a list of important issues. Pundits, reporters and citizens are asking our representatives questions about Common Core and high-stakes assessment. Education issues certainly can’t compete with issues of terrorism or plane crashes, but people are starting to realize they are more affected in their daily lives by education policy than they are by ISIS. They are holding their leaders accountable for education decisions and no longer can legislators arbitrarily pass laws about education without thinking. They know an informed group of citizens will hold them accountable for the decisions they make and policies they pass.

2. Parents are more informed than ever on issues of testing, accountability and Common Core Standards.

   To say parents are now “involved” in the education debate would drastically undercut what is really happening, as parents mobilize opposition movements across the country. They understand things like test reliability – a subject not often discussed in parent groups. In fact, the Miami Dade PTA just sent a letter to Florida legislators demanding the FSA – the test used to assess the Common Core Standards – not be used for accountability because the it’s no longer reliable. The PTA isn’t talking bake sales and fundraising events; they assert the computer glitches and network failures across the state during the test, call into question the FSA’s reliability. Reliability is the degree to which an assessment tool produces stable and consistent results. (Click here for the Miami Dade PTA letter to see for yourself.)

3. The political left, the political right and all the others in between and beyond are finding common ground opposing Common Core and high-stakes assessments.

   I practice yoga, eat vegan (most of the time), hate guns, and I was on the BLAZE with Glenn Beck. Not once, but several times Mr. Beck flew me out to his studios to discuss education issues. And that’s happening everywhere. People who would normally not agree on major ideological issues are teaming up and demanding their local, state and federal government stop hurting kids with bad education policy.

4. Testing companies no longer have the luxury of slyly engaging in shady business practices to make profits off our kids.    

   We are on to them and they know it. They may have all the money and the ability to buy politicians, but we now know what they’re up to and we’ll always fight back. They can’t fly below the radar anymore.

5. Students are exercising their rights and civil disobedience while engaging in a lesson in civics.   

   Educational leaders consistently say, “We want students to think critically. We want students to be able to function in the real world.” Students exercising their constitutional rights by standing at the podium of their local school board and refusing the test, is about as critical and real world as it gets. Students aren’t just reading about history in textbooks while sitting in a desk; they’re making history by getting out of » 6 triumphs to remember in the embattled struggle to end high-stakes testing and Common Core.: