[Xmca-l] Re: Opt-out movement

Sat Apr 4 22:00:42 PDT 2015

Relevant update -- Beth

http://www.ny1.com/nyc/brooklyn/education/2015/04/1/teachers--unions-encourage-parents-to-have-children-opt-out-of-state-tests.html

http://dianeravitch.net/2015/04/01/here-is-the-new-york-state-teacher-evaluation-bill/

On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 10:33 PM, Beth Ferholt <bferholt@gmail.com> wrote:

> Again, I can see that the opt out movement could look very different in
> New Jersey or even farther afield.  From where I am it is not prolonging
> the disease.  It is a political action, not an educational gesture.
>
> I think more important than where you fall on this movement is learning
> from it.
>
> This is what it looks like in NYC:
> http://thejosevilson.com/this-is-not-a-test-new-york-edition-thanks-nycore/
> .
>
> Beth
>
> On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 6:04 PM, Peter Farruggio <pfarruggio@utpa.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Yes, but the whole point of the opt-outs is a protest vs the testing
>> regime, not just to protect "my child" The hope is that a mass movement
>> will scare the bullies who are promoting the testing and shut down the
>> whole enterprise. Bloody the bully's nose and he won't dare to retaliate
>> against teachers. The dynamic was captured by Frederick Douglass's truism
>> "power concedes nothing without a struggle."
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: xmca-l-bounces+pfarruggio=utpa.edu@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:
>> xmca-l-bounces+pfarruggio=utpa.edu@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of lachnm
>> Sent: Monday, March 30, 2015 4:33 PM
>> To: xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
>> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Opt-out movement
>>
>> 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-000
>> > 0-2b41-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
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Beth Ferholt
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Early Childhood and Art Education
> Brooklyn College, City University of New York
> 2900 Bedford Avenue
> Brooklyn, NY 11210-2889
>
> Email: bferholt@brooklyn.cuny.edu
> Phone: (718) 951-5205
> Fax: (718) 951-4816
>

-- 
Beth Ferholt
Assistant Professor
Department of Early Childhood and Art Education
Brooklyn College, City University of New York
2900 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11210-2889

Email: bferholt@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Phone: (718) 951-5205
Fax: (718) 951-4816