Test protest: Chicago teachers say they'll refuse to give ISAT

[YankeeFan]

Teachers are refusing to administer state mandated tests, and their union is vowing to strongly defend them:

Protesting what they say is too much standardized testing in schools, teachers at Saucedo Scholastic Academy declared Tuesday they will refuse to administer the state-mandated Illinois Standards Achievement Tests that are scheduled to begin next week.

“This has been building. We’ve been discussing this for a long time, and we finally said enough is enough,” special education teacher Sarah Chambers told reporters at a frigid Tuesday afternoon news conference outside the school, where she was joined by fellow teachers, supportive parents and students, and Chicago Teachers Union officials.

Chambers said “about 40” Saucedo teachers scheduled to administer the ISAT voted in a secret ballot referendum Tuesday morning to boycott the test, and “every teacher voted to refuse to give the test—100 percent. Unanimous,” she said.

http://www.wbez.org/news/test-protest-chicago-teachers-say-theyll-refuse-give-isat-109772

 

[LongTimeListener]

Those damn teachers always working against parents.

Teachers at Saucedo say they were bolstered by the 320 parents at the school who have yanked their kids from the test. Jason Reese is one of them. His seventh-grade daughter sat in the passenger seat of the family’s minivan at dismissal, reading her second novel of the week. Reese says he opted his children out of the ISAT because “they’re constantly taking tests over and over again. They need to get more instruction in the classroom as opposed to being tested for everything that they do.”

 

[lakefront]

That is encouraging news. Way too much in administrative costs, I would imagine, to do all this testing. I remember when my actual "grades" were what counted.

 

[Starman]

It's constantly shocking how many people are constantly shocked how unions (in this case teachers) pretty uniformly back the interests of their members.

You would almost think it was one of their primary reasons for existence or something.

 

[93Devil]

I have no problem with a uniform standardized assessment because it's a lot more accurate than a grade when comparing students from all areas of the country. What is screwed is thinking 95 or 100 percent of students will pass the thing.

And very soon a standardized test will not be simple multiple choice, and I would not be surprised if grades were gone in about 10 years and replaced by hundreds of individual strands that will show mastery of a concept by a student.

Billy knows 2 by 2 multiplication but has yet to master 2 by 3. He understands that and which usage but not than and then. Hi, Moddy!

 

[93Devil]

I have no problem with a uniform standardized assessment because it's a lot more accurate than a grade when comparing students from all areas of the country. What is screwed is thinking 95 or 100 percent of students will pass the thing.

And very soon a standardized test will not be simple multiple choice, and I would not be surprised if grades were gone in about 10 years and replaced by hundreds of individual strands that will show mastery of a concept by a student.

Billy knows 2 by 2 multiplication but has yet to master 2 by 3. He understands that and which usage but not than and then. Hi, Moddy!

It's uniform to Illinois, but you should know there is no uniform national standerized assesment used in schools.

ACT

SAT

 

[old_tony]

Based on this video, the folks running a "professional development" seminar believe Chicago teachers to be second graders.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/28/a-video-that-shows-why-teachers-are-going-out-of-their-minds/?tid=sm_fb

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Based on this video, the folks running a "professional development" seminar believe Chicago teachers to be second graders.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/28/a-video-that-shows-why-teachers-are-going-out-of-their-minds/?tid=sm_fb

Holy cow, that's awful. What is the point of that?

 

[93Devil]

Based on this video, the folks running a "professional development" seminar believe Chicago teachers to be second graders.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/28/a-video-that-shows-why-teachers-are-going-out-of-their-minds/?tid=sm_fb

Second grade teachers do not teach that way... not since 1978.

 

[old_tony]

Based on this video, the folks running a "professional development" seminar believe Chicago teachers to be second graders.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/28/a-video-that-shows-why-teachers-are-going-out-of-their-minds/?tid=sm_fb

Holy cow, that's awful. What is the point of that?

I don't know what disturbs me more -- that the seminar leader instructed in that manner or that the teachers sat there and allowed it.

 

[tapintoamerica]

I'm choosing the latter on that. I wonder, however, if this nonsense continued for several more minutes and if the teachers kept singing along like lemmings or if they protested.