I think the Garfield High teachers are a model for teachers across the nation.
They show that collective action works. If one person speaks up, he or she gets fired.
When an entire faculty resists, together their voice is heard around the world.
Not everyone agrees, of course. Mike Petrilli of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute (where I was a trustee for many years but am no longer) strongly condemns the Garfield teachers. He thinks they are shirking their duty. He thinks they are trying to avoid being held accountable. He thinks they should not compare themselves to Martin Luther King Jr.
I disagree with Mike.
Martin Luther King taught the nation–and the Garfield teachers–about the power of collective action against injustice. He showed them that the powerless, acting in concert, have power even if they don’t have money.
Teachers know better than think tanks that testing has become obsessive and pointless. President Obama has frequently inveighed against teaching to the test. The teachers are exercising their conscience, are manifesting professional responsibility, and are supporting what they believe is right for their students.
Dr. King taught them the power of the boycott. He taught them to stand firm against what they know is wrong. He taught them to have courage regardless of the odds against them.
And lest we forget, Dr. King did not fighting for privatization of public services; he did not demand high-stakes testing for children. He demanded equality of education opportunity, not a regular application of the bell curve. Dr. King demanded an end to poverty and war. He died helping the sanitation workers of Memphis organize a union.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Of course he is against it. NWEA/Kingsbury Institute have connections to Fordham Institute….not to mention Broad Superintendent’s Academy, Walton Foundation, Gates Foundation, Charter Schools, Freidman Foundation (as in Milton), TFA, just to name a few. People from NWEA/Kingsbury make presentations promoting MAP as a good measure of Value Added. They have slideshows online. If anyone is interested, I have compiled a list of the many connections NWEA/Kingsbury has to the Reformers. It is a word doc so I would have to email it to you.
I’ve been wondering when the real history lessons would begin …
My comment at Petrilli’s blog: Mike, the notion that teachers are refusing to give the MAP because they wish to “resisting a modicum of personal responsibility for student learning” and the rest of your attempts at mind-reading and arm-chair psychoanalysis is, predictably, much more revealing about you and your politics than about any of the teachers in Seattle.
The shame is yours, for cracking out of turn when you don’t know the shot, but presume that you do because it serves the political agenda of your masters and your colleagues at the anti-union, anti-teacher Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and think-tank, for denigrating teachers who are showing enormous courage at great personal and professional risk, and for once again proving that the folks at your organization know so little about teachers and what drives and motivates them that you shouldn’t open your mouths on the subject again. We can hope, anyway, that some day intellectual honesty and modesty will get you to do some observing in real schools and classrooms, some conversing with the teachers and students, and a good deal less pontificating without facts.
Here’s my comment to Petrilli’s blog:
Maybe you and your think tank’s invalid and unproven schemes are being exposed for what they are- fraudulent misuse of standardized tests to sort and exclude kids, schools and divide communities. You shouldn’t mess with people’s kids- parents learn quickly who their child’s advocates really are. Parents and teachers know who you are- an unprincipled servant of powerful interests not children.
Shame on him, apparently he didn’t study Martin Luther King and Civil Rights in school. Maybe he went to a school where the teachers were held accountable so they had to teach to the test and only the test.
Shame on you, Petrilli…see the full anti-map flyer.
Pass out to parents, students and ignorant “reformers”:
CREATIVITY NOT CONTROL:
Click to access antimap-flyer-v3.pdf
My comment to Petrilli’s nonsense.
What is happening in Seattle and at Garfield really just scares the crap out of you doesn’t it?
The realization by teachers that they do have a voice and that they are the professionals that should be making decisions about the assessment of students and the conditions that best support learning could be downright contagious. This is what truly frightens reformers like you. Teachers finally stepping up and advocating for themselves while at the same time realizing that what they truly fight for is a just system of education for all children. This scares you.
What if other teachers follow? What if the angry parents whose children that have been denied a quality education during the “reform reign of testing” understand that the teachers are not hiding from accountability but revealing an evil system that has hurt children and almost destroyed the American system of public education? What if rhetoric of reform is revealed as the language of a second segregation aimed at children living in poverty? What if this simply catches on and teachers and parents across the country say “No more!”
It’s over!
Seattle has revealed just how fragile your (the reformers) grip is on the nations’ public schools and the tax dollars that you truly covet. If this OPT OUT catches on (and it will) the reformers’ house of cards will collapse. This is what you’re really afraid will happen. Just admit it. The Achilles heel has been exposed—useless high stakes testing is being used to harm the “least among us”—and a full realization of this civil rights violation is taking in shape visibly in Seattle.
It’s frightening realizing that the oppressed are waking up!
“What is happening in Seattle and at Garfield really just scares the crap out of you doesn’t it?”
I agree with you, Timothy. I think Mike is scared and so are the other folks at the institute. They have probably been nudging him for awhile to write this post since it’s somewhat after the fact.
His comments about the MAP being a good test shows how out of touch he is with what teachers are dealing with in the classroom. It is NOT aligned with what the teachers are currently required to teach. Any clear thinking individual would have to say no to this test.
This is where the knockout blow is delivered. Right here. Right now.
Nothing short of collective action will reverse the course of education policy in our country. But it has to be all of us. The teachers in your school who work hard for their students, but wonder whether they can continue in these conditions must ask themselves some essential questions:
1) Is this bad for kids and education?
2) Am I willing to just do what I need to do, and endure what is going on?
3) If the answer to #2 is “no”, then what action(s) are you willing to take to change it?
I think we have clear answers to question 1 but the answer to question 2 has always, up to now, been “yes”. Only when we get question 3 answered in the affirmative will we be able to organize and effect change. People also need to feel as though organizational efforts will empower them.
Collective action is risky because it puts a lot of chips in the table that may not come back. When people feel as though they won’t abide what is happening on a large scale, and are organized as in Garfield High, then I believe we can make a difference.
It started last year in Chicago and continues in Seattle. If every teacher, every school, every district simply says, “Enough!”, it ends now.
They’re on the ropes. And they know it.
Ha ha ha. Listen to Mike Petrili promoting his new book here:
http://www.wypr.org/podcast/class-struggles-thursday-january-10-12-1-pm
Apparently, with 2 young boys, Petrilli & his wife faced the agonizing struggle of whether they should continue living in diverse Takoma Park & sending their boys to a 40% free lunch school or move to the leafy burbs. Listen to Petrilli’s gut-wrenching decision as he decides to move his family to Bethesda — presided over by that nemisis of pro-testing and pro-VAM promoters — Montgomery County superintendant Joshua Starr!!
What a putz.
I work in a school district that administers the MAP assessment. The test is a normed-referenced test that is not aligned to the curriculum of the state of Washington, and indeed may not be aligned to any state standards. I directly know of many schools and teachers who find value in the assessment as long as its used as a predictor for state-mandated assessments. I find that teachers can raise a legitimate question of the MAP and any other standardized assessment as the sole determiner of effective teaching; however, the tactics of the Seattle teachers may result in a disservice to them and their colleagues.
Boycott
The issue at hand is not the MAP test but the willingness to boycott in light of endless pressure of standardized testing. A boycott can be an effective tool when used to bring to light to an unjust law or policy imposed on those without just cause. It can spark affirming attention to the plight of those in protest and have those in control edit or terminate the policy in question. Unfortunately, Seattle teachers’ threat does not meet this standard. The MAP test was agreed upon by the school district and voted by the union members as one measurement to determine teacher effectiveness. One could argue that such a test should not be used in this manner; however, both parties agreed to its induction. If the teachers at Garfield wish to rescind their collective bargaining policy, they should and could in a manner that does not violate their contract. The outcome of this protest will be a rallying of those who are opposed to standardized tests and a strengthen hand of policy makers who do.
Justifying Your Critics
Critics of public school teachers and unions can make a convincing claim that the behavior of the teachers in Seattle is further evidence of the need dismantle teacher’s unions and the public school structure itself. The tactic to boycott an agreed upon assessment is paramount to a breech of contract. Those who criticize teachers will have a justifiable claim that teachers do not need a union if they will not honor their union’s agreement. If they cannot honor a contract that was collectively bargained, why offer them that option? In light of the national consistent decline of union memberships and once stronghold union states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania becoming right to work states, it seems a foolish move to breech a contract that was collectively bargained in one of the few states that maintain such a right.
Again, I believe the teachers of Seattle have a legitimate claim of concern of the continuous emphasis of standardized test. The argument is valid not the tactic.
Do you remember what happened in the American Revolution? The colonies asked for redress and went unheard. This is what has happened all over the country in regards to teachers. No teacher wants to go to extremes when dealing with issues that may impact their district. The teachers in Seattle and across the country have found that this is the only action to take since bought out politicians have failed to listen to them and respect their professional opinions. Instead, the politicians have listened to needs of testing companies. The teachers have been knuckled under and are finally standing up for what is best for all. Wasn’t the testing a state and federal mandate. What choice did they have? -No one has listened.
And the CTU strike was about school closings/jobs??? What a wonderful, thought-provoking, deep analysis.
I read Mr. Petrilli’s article and let me tell you, the comments are amazing.
_________________________ Heidi Reich
I recently discovered that Montgomery County Superintendent Starr hosts his own podcast here http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/superintendent/podcast/
Amazingly, his co-host is the VP of the Union! Imagine that happening in other districts – people working together! I love the way Starr introduces him. You have to hear it.
As you can see if you go to the link, the third episode features Mike Petrilli as their guest. I’m about 65% of the way through the 45 minute show. And it’s great.
I thought Petrilli was a different kind of reformer; one who had his own thoughts.
Shame on him.
For Mike Petrille:
First I’d ask what would you suggest the teachers do to demonstrate their belief that this test is destructive to the overall learning environment ? Make sure your recommendation is something that they have not already tried.
Next, examine history. When people unite over a cause they do so because they are not being heard. They do so because they must. They have no choice.
Next, investigate why it was not just teachers who signed off on this boycott. Parents and community members eagerly signed on as well. What diabolical, self centered motive can be created for them>
It’s time, perhaps, for you and others who aren’t on the ground in Seattle to come to the realization that perhaps this community knows what is best for their students, their children, their citizens.
Mike, sorry for the typo, I meant to write Petrilli!