[Xmca-l] Re: Opt-out movement

[lachnm]

The teachers I work with in NY are highly critical of standardized 
testing and are theoretically in favor of new opting-out legislation but 
are also worried that in practice parents of more privileged students, 
who tend score better on high-stakes testing, are more likely to opt-out 
than parents from underserved homes. If the case this would provide 
unfair evaluations of teachers' "effectiveness" - it seems that many of 
these teaches are in something of a double bind.
peace,
Michael Lachney

On 2015-03-30 00:48, Peter Farruggio wrote:
> Yes, it's still unsafe for teachers to boycott the tests in most
> places, although the local teachers union in Seattle coordinated such
> an action last year. But the opt out movement is led by parents,
> certainly with teachers supporting it in the background, and it has
> blossomed this testing season. Certain administrators have been using
> bullying tactics, including outright violations of parents' rights;
> but the resistance to incessant testing will continue to grow as
> parents organize and coordinate their actions nationwide. Education is
> and always has been political, and the politics have become harsher
> with the neoliberal push to privatize schools and everything else.
> 
> Teachers can and must play a role in defending democratic education,
> and that means helping to stop the testing madness. The best thing
> they can do at this point is to find ways to educate parents about
> what is at stake and how to exercise their parental rights. If that
> means conducting clandestine informational meetings in church
> basements, so be it.
> 
> See below
> 
> 
> 
> http://unitedoptout.com/
> 
> http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=5528&section=Article
> 
> http://fairtest.org/get-involved/opting-out
> 
> 
> Pete Farruggio, PhD
> Associate Professor, Bilingual Education
> University of Texas Pan American
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Greg Thompson
> Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2015 11:04 PM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: [Xmca-l] Opt-out movement
> 
> This is related to the other thread since one of my initial responses
> to the comments there was: As teachers, why not just stop paying
> attention to all the testing and do the stuff that we know really
> matters?
> 
> Here is one answer for why not:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08ntklteK_c&annotation_id=54833ffb-0000-2b41-a517-001a11c17db2&feature=iv&src_vid=JM1ddULfdhU
> 
> It is a video about a school in Chicago where 75% of the students
> opted out of taking a standardized test and the fallout that followed.
> 
> Scary.
> 
> -greg
> 
> --
> Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Anthropology
> 880 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
> Brigham Young University
> Provo, UT 84602
> http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson