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Providence, RI, Students Plan “Zombie” Protest Against High-StakesTesting

February 11, 2013 12:54 pm

Students in Providence, Rhode Island, will hold a Zombie protest against high-stakes testing outside the Rhode Island Department of Education headquarters on Wednesday afternoon.

State Commissioner Deborah Gist may not be there, as she is participating in a conference at the conservative think-tank American Enterprise Institute in DC on Tuesday with Michelle Rhee about “cage-busting leadership.”

The students are the ones in the cage.

They would like to bust out of the cage created by NCLB and Race to the Top.  RI won RTTT funding to make the cage stronger.

They want the freedom to think and the freedom to learn, free of bubble testing and mandates from D.C. and the state.

If you are a parent or student or concerned citizen, support the students of Providence!

Help them bust out of the cage of high-stakes testing.

 

 

MEDIA ADVISORY

 

CONTACT: Aaron Regunberg | Aaron@ProvidenceStudentUnion.org | 847-809-6039 (cell)

“ZOMBIES” MARCH ON DEPT. OF EDUCATION TO PROTEST HIGH-STAKES TESTING

WHAT: Members of the Providence Student Union and other high school students dress as zombies and march from Burnside Park to RIDE, where they will dramatically demonstrate the deathly serious impact that the state’s new high-stakes testing graduation requirement may have on youth in Providence by staging a “die-in.” 

DATE: Wednesday, February 13th

TIME / PLACE:   4:00 p.m. “zombie march” begins at Burnside Park in Providence

4:20 p.m. zombies demonstrate outside of RIDE (on the Westminster Street-side of the Shepard Building)

The event will have strong visuals and chants. Students will be available for interview.

### 

The Providence Student Union is a youth-led student advocacy organization bringing high school students together to ensure youth have a real voice in decisions affecting their education. Learn more at www.providencestudentunion.org.

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10 Responses to “Providence, RI, Students Plan “Zombie” Protest Against High-StakesTesting”

  1. I’m hoping that that is where we’ll find Rhee and other celebrity educators and reformers in a few years, in a cage.

    Like

    By Mark Collins on February 11, 2013 at 1:30 pm

  2. Arne Duncan , Boston mayor Menino, National head of PTA , and others are in Providence today. Press covering event at high school there which is among top winners of Race To The Top.
    Watch for the press coverage.

    Like

    By polly on February 11, 2013 at 1:46 pm

  3. Arne Duncan should be safe in the event of a zombie apocalypse, since they feed on brains.

    Like

    By Alan on February 11, 2013 at 2:49 pm

    1. And guts and a spine and oh yeah, balls, too. He’s out!

      Like

      By Linda on February 11, 2013 at 4:57 pm

  4. I wish I could somehow forward this to every student in my state, or better yet across the nation. Any ideas on how to spread the word without losing my job???

    Like

    By Bridget on February 11, 2013 at 5:10 pm

  5. Awesome! We need more students and parents involved in this movement. They do not listen to educators, but they do pay attention to students and parents. March ON!

    Like

    By barbara on February 11, 2013 at 5:19 pm

  6. Maybe I’ve missed them, but I feel like I see surprisingly few posts on this blog about Rhode Island on this blog, which appears to be ground zero for the budget issues that plague so many states and cities.

    Like

    By flerper on February 11, 2013 at 6:55 pm

  7. Thanks for the link to the cage busting leadership. At the end, there is a brief bio of Michelle Rhee:

    Michelle Rhee, the founder and CEO of StudentsFirst, began her career as a Teach For America corps member in Baltimore. Through her own trial and error in the classroom, she gained a tremendous respect for the hard work that teachers do every day. In 1997, Rhee founded and led The New Teacher Project, which recruits and trains teachers to work in urban schools. From 2007 to 2010, Rhee served as chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools. Under her stewardship, DC schools experienced increases in student achievement, a rise in graduation rates, and an upswing — for the first time in decades — in enrollment. In 2010, Rhee formed StudentsFirst, a grassroots organization which is designed to mobilize parents, teachers, students, administrators, and citizens throughout country, and to channel their energy to produce meaningful results on both the local and national level. In her new book, “Radical: Fighting to Put Students First,” Rhee draws on her own life story and delivers her plan for better American schools.

    She has backed off her Baltimore Miracle.
    She has also toned down her claims about DCPS. It used to be “significant” gains.
    Now it is “gains”, gains which were in line with what was already going on.

    Now, if only we can get the national media, like This Week with George, to stop the dissembling.

    Like

    By Ed Harris on February 11, 2013 at 7:38 pm

    1. Gosh, Ed Harris, this is the first time I ever heard Eli Broad and Joel Klein and the Koch brothers and the Walton Foundation described as “grassroots.” As in the description of StudentsFirst as a “grassroots organization.”

      Like

      By dianerav on February 11, 2013 at 11:05 pm

  8. […] links to Diane Ravitch’s blog, where Ravitch […]

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    By Zombies of High Stakes Testing @DianeRavitch @wpri12 « zombielaw on February 13, 2013 at 4:56 pm

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