NEA President Elect Lily Eskelsen Garcia on high stakes testing...
...we believe the results of tests should be used for what they were designed to measure. No commercial mass-produced industrial strength standardized factory test should ever...may I just say ever...ever...never be used as the determining factor in any...any...any high stakes decision on any level for any child or any adult...enough is enough!
WHAT CHILDREN NEED
Parents, I Cannot Protect Your Children by Peg with Pen
I teach at a school with 73% free/reduced lunch. Over 40 languages are spoken within my school. I know what our children need - they need wrap around services for poverty, books, librarians, small class size, health care, nurses, counselors, recess, quality food, and the opportunity to express their interests as they talk, read, write, play, sing, dance, create and smile. But you see, that doesn't create corporate profit. Poverty must be ignored in order to keep corporate profit churning.
VOUCHERS
Cruel Cuts: Philadelphia Public Schools Pay The Price For Pa.’s Expanded Neo-Voucher Program by Simon Brown
...it’s important to remember that when voucher programs expand, it often comes at the expense of public schools.
LEAVING CHILDREN BEHIND
DISINCENTIVES TO BECOME, OR REMAIN, A TEACHER
Maybe it's Time to Ask the Teachers? by Linda Darling-Hammond
American teachers deal with a lot: low pay, growing class sizes and escalating teacher-bashing from politicians and pundits. Federal testing and accountability mandates under No Child Left Behind and, more recently, Race to the Top, have added layers of bureaucracy while eliminating much of the creativity and authentic learning that makes teaching enjoyable. Tack on the recession's massive teacher layoffs and other school cuts, plus the challenges of trying to compensate for increasing child poverty, homelessness, and food insecurity, and you get a trifecta of disincentives to become, or remain, a teacher.
A GIFT FOR NEW TEACHERS
The Teacher as Sisyphus by David C. Berliner
The best gift we can give to our newly minted educators, many of whom will be working in our public school systems, is a society that gives the parents of the children they teach jobs that pay fair wages and provide basic benefits. That would be the best gift to give our new teachers and administrators.
BACK TO SCHOOL
Back to School Letter by Mark Cross, Superintendent of Peru Elementary School District 124, Peru, Illinois
...we will not let political nonsense distract us from our true mission, which is to keep your kids safe and to provide them with a world class education.
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All who envision a more just, progressive and fair society cannot ignore the battle for our nation’s educational future. Principals fighting for better schools, teachers fighting for better classrooms, students fighting for greater opportunities, parents fighting for a future worthy of their child’s promise: their fight is our fight. We must all join in.
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Stop the Testing Insanity!
Vermont State Board of Education: Statement and Resolution on Assessment and Accountability, Adopted August 19, 201
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