A Growing Movement of Teachers of Conscience: More in Seattle Refuse to Administer the #SBA/#SBAC Tests – | Teachers' Letters of Professional Conscience

A Growing Movement of Teachers of Conscience: More in Seattle Refuse to Administer the #SBA/#SBAC Tests – | Teachers' Letters of Professional Conscience:

A Growing Movement of Teachers of Conscience: More in Seattle Refuse to Administer the #SBA/#SBAC Tests -

MARCH 27, 2015 ~ TEACHERS'LETTERSTOBILLGATES

There are many ways teachers are fighting back against the Common Core high stakes tests.  We delivered our Letters of Professional Conscience to our school board, and Seattle teachers are finding new ways to empower teachers, parents, and students by refusing to administer the test.

This blog exists to tell these stories in order to spread a movement led by courageous teacher leaders – teachers doing what we do best – teaching.  In this case, we are here to teach other teachers how to resist the test. The test is the glue that holds corporate education reform together.  Without the test, corporate reform’s house of cards falls, collapsing the fundamental hoax of so-called “failing schools”.

Things are heating up in Seattle.  Last year it was Scrap the Map (Measures of Academic Progress).  That movement spread across the nation:

“Garfield’s actions helped spark a national movement to oppose the abuses of standardized testing. In Portland, students initiated their own boycott of the OAKS tests. Some 10,000 parents and students marched in Texas against the overuse of high-stakes tests. Kindergartners and their parents staged a “play-in” at the Chicago School District headquarters against the replacement of the arts with norm-referenced exams.” ~ Jesse Hagopian, Liza Campbell (2013), Seattle Times

This year, Nathan Hale’s Senate – which is their leadership team consisting of students, parents, and teachers – voted to refuse to give the SBAC to all 11th grade students.  The Nathan Hale teachers gave the following reasons for their refusal written February 24th, 2015:

Reasons for refusing the SBAC for 11th graders included (summary):

1. Not required for graduation

2. Colleges will not use them this year

3. Since NCLB requires all students pass the tests by 2014, and since few if any schools will be able to do that,  all schools will therefore be considered failing by that standard. There is thus no reason to participate in erroneous and misapplied self-labeling.

4. It is neither valid nor reliable nor equitable assessment. We will use classroom based assessments to guide next instructional steps.

5. Cut scores of the SBAC reflect poor assessment strategy and will produce invalid and unreliable outcomes.

6. Student made this point: “Why waste time taking a test that is meaningless and that most of us will fail?”

7. The SBAC will tie up computer lab time for weeks.

8. The SBAC will take up time students need to work on classroom curriculum.

This is an important step. Nathan Hale is asserting its commitment to valid, reliable, equitable assessment. This decision is the result of community and parent meetings, careful study of research literature, knowledge of our students’ needs, commitment to excellence in their 

A Growing Movement of Teachers of Conscience: More in Seattle Refuse to Administer the #SBA/#SBAC Tests – | Teachers' Letters of Professional Conscience: