Teachers at a Chicago elementary school voted to boycott the next round of state testing, and their union supported them.
CTU SUPPORTS TEACHER BOYCOTT OF LOW-STAKES ISAT
CHICAGO – The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) supports teachers and parents at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy who announced today their intent to boycott the Illinois State Achievement Test (ISAT). Teachers have collected more than 300 opt-out letters and the student council voted to encourage all students to opt out of the exam. Should these courageous educators face disciplinary charges by the district, CTU vowed to mount a strong defense of this collective action.
Saucedo’s action stance against the ISAT could spark a teacher and parent-led movement to “opt-out” throughout the Chicago Public Schools system.
“The Saucedo educators have taken a bold step in refusing to administer a test that is of no use to students and will be junked by the district next year,” said CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey. “Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett has already said the ISAT will not be used for selective enrollment, and therefore this serves no purpose other than to give students another standardized test. We know that parents all over the city are opting their children out of this unnecessary test, and we commend them for doing what is in the best interests of their children.”
The ‘low stakes’ test is expected to be administered over the course of eight days in all elementary schools starting March 3rd. Formerly used to help qualify 7th grade students for selective enrollment high schools. The district recently issued a memorandum to teachers stressing the value of “rigorous, high-quality assessments,” in measuring student progress. The ISAT, however, is not aligned to any CPS curriculum, and in Chicago, it is no longer used to measure student progress, school performance, promotion, or for any other purpose.
For the last decade, since the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the ISAT test has been the primary lever used by CPS for its destructive, destabilizing policies of closures and turnarounds. System-wide, the ISAT has infected the vigor and breadth of curriculum as teachers and students became stymied by the requirements of a narrow test-based approach to learning. NCLB has now been panned as a broad failure, but with the transition into more new tests, CPS threatens to double-down on the failed policy of standardized-test based accountability.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is proof that below the national level of the teachers’ unions, the locals are where the opposition will appear.
The teachers’ unions are more complex than one leader at the top (NEA or AFT) dictating policy for the entire union. District chapters may chart their own direction through the local elected president who is almost always still an active classroom teacher and closer to the rank and file.
In addition, it is the district union chapters where you will find the connection between teachers and millions of parents and children.
Forget about the NEA and AFT—-focus on the district level chapters and their leadership for support.
excellent advice
Sounds familiar, like the Seattle MAP boycott which the above description of the ISAT fits to a T. I wonder if Ms. Rhee- volting will come out with another bucket of deceptions and diversions, of deformer boiler plate like she did when she attacked the Seattle teachers who started that successful boycott. The CTU has an ample supply of smack down on hand for such pratfalls. And, surprise surprise, WHAT do you think CPS is replacing the ISAT with? MAP TEST!
Lloyd is so right. I’m pro-union and president of my large local district here in Delaware. The real action is totally bottom-up. The top-down approach is failing in our unions. I think they’re starting to listen to us, but the train is moving faster than the national associations are able to catch up. Lead, follow, or get outta the way. The nationals neeed to realize this.
Teachers must act locally and ignore union leadership who have sold out , who have become collaborators with Rhee and her foundation allies ( props to Mercedes’s
Schneider and others for their fine investigative work). More to the point, the Chicago resistance is a model progressive actions that local rank and file can initiate in cooperation and in alliance students and parents.
I’m sorry. This is and isn’t related. I just don’t know how else to let you all see what AZ keeps pumping out. This latest one is from The Goldwater Institute: http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/article/vision-education-and-future-learning
What do you think?
Absolutely spot-on, Lloyd, et.al. “Think globally but act locally.” Our union local was able to get so much more done than at the state level (forget about the NEA–DVR seems to think that Common Core & the newest incarnation of TFA {think you had a recent post about that, or read it on another blog} are just swell)–we had great presidents, boards & building reps, &, as a union, we were able to stop the dismantling of special education in our district.
And just WHO says that unions don’t help the kids?!
How about everyone in Illinois do the same?
And, parents–not too late to OPT OUT NOW!!!!
I taught for thirty years (1975-2005) and belonged to ARE/CTA/NEA and my experience was that change and action almost always started and took place at the local level where the schools, administrators, and teachers had close relationships/friendships with kids and their parents almost always working together to improve education.
The power in the teacher unions is at the local level. Anyone who judges the teachers unions from the actions of the national or state levels is getting it all wrong.
If we want to create a Tsunami that will sweep the nation, the best place to start is at the local level. Forget NEA and CTA. It’s a waste of time to start there.
The locals are the engine (with more than 4 million people power) that pushes the ship that’s NEA and AFT. Democracy is a slow process. It takes time for the national to change course.
But oligarchs can make a decision and seconds later spend million in misleading ads and PR that hits the airwaves within 24 hours.
Because oligarchs are no different than any dictator, king or emperor in history. There’s an old saying about that kind of power: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” – Lord Acton (1834 – 1902)
An interesting book that focuses on how power corrupts the ability of individuals to rationally reason is the Pulitzer Prize winning author Barbara Tuchman’s “The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam” (1984). This non-fiction book is a meditation on the historical recurrence of governments pursuing policies evidently contrary to their own interests.
I support getting rid of things that are a waste of time and if they aren’t going to use this test, then kids shouldn’t test, but (and let me play devil’s advocate)
1. Doesn’t this test affect the district’s federal funding? No one has clearly explained the yet. The union is always asking for more money but whenever CPS brings this up, the union hasn’t explained why it’s ok to boycott and lose federal funding.
2. Again, I’m all for getting rid of ridiculous tests, but none of the teacher’s grading procedures are standardized. I see plenty of students each year get A’s and B’s from their teachers and score below standards on the ISAT. I’m all for supporting teachers but not when they’re not being honest about how they are grading students. At least the ISAT gives me a more accurate idea of where my student is in terms of his or her ability.
Oh, this is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I very much hope that this action will be repeated in district after district, school after school, around the country!!!
A second school in Chicago Public Schools voted to boycott the ISATs as well today. Drummond school.