Pittsburgh teacher Mary King said she would not give the state tests to her English language learner students, and she didn’t.
She was “the first and only” teacher in Pittsburgh to refuse to give the test. She is a Teacher of Conscience. I wrote about her here.
“Under state requirements, ESL students — also known as English language learners — who have been in the U.S. less than a year don’t have to take the PSSA in English language arts, but they do have to take the PSSA in math and science. They can have certain accommodations, such as use of word-to-word translation dictionaries without definitions and pictures on some of the exams.
Ms. King, who is in her 26th year and is retiring this school year, said not all students get upset, but she recalled one student who had to take the math test her first week. “All she knew was ‘hello,’ ‘good-bye,’ ‘thank you.’ She cried the whole time.”
Mary King wrote a comment the the newspaper in response to the article. She wrote:
Teaching in PPS has been wonderful because it has challenged every part of me – mind, heart, and spirit. I appreciate Eleanor Chute writing this story. I hope it illuminates, in a small way, concerns many educators have about corporate-driven state mandates (many!) that conflict with what we know about children and learning. Also positive, the letter from Ms. Spolar states: “The District will explore fully the accommodations available to English language learners and anticipates further review of the regulations in response to advocacy pertaining to these testing issues.” I do believe our district wants what is best for our students and hope that the voices of my colleagues are heard by our administrators and our school board of directors. In my most Pollyannaish view of the world, I would love to see PPS become a leader in the pushback that is gathering steam against corporate reforms that are decimating public education. As always, follow the money!
Since she is retiring, she won’t be punished. She should get a medal.
She gets a medal. She joins the big honor roll as a champion of public education.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If every teacher in the country had that kind of nerve, the madness would end tomorrow.
It is almost impossible to be the only one, but we have models in history…Tiananmen Square, Rosa Parks & many others – often quiet decent heroes quietly doing the right thing…unknown. Nerves of steel, but doable!
I lost a teaching job early in my career for speaking up about the abuse of a student. Would not rest until something was done about it. Did not regret my actions. Next job interview asked me about it, and I told them if they allowed abusive behaviors toward students, and looked the other way, I would do exactly the same! Put them on notice! Report until corrected…risking job loss. Got the next job!
Have lived by these values my entire career.
Scary, but I see no other choice.
Rosa Parks was not new to civil disobedience. Perhaps she was brave enough to keep her seat because she was not alone in her fight for equal rights. It wasn’t easy, but she was not alone.
If only teachers had a strong support system behind them made up of those who would be willing to fight the good fight with them. Parents, step up and fight for your children!
Rosa parks wasn’t a model of a solo individuals.
Yes, indeed. They can’t jail all of us.
Ms. King reminds us that all teachers who are about to retire or resign can do a great deal for the profession.
Agreed–since many active teachers do not feel they can do this, EVERY retiring teacher MUST do just what Ms. King did. What nobler end to a wonderful career?
Teachers who retire can take an active role against the incessant testing. I was told by my principal that”You really need to retire with your negative attitude towards testing.” After retirement, I immediately began to write a novel which I hope will inspire both parents and teachers to continue the fight they have now so bravely begun. THE GEOGRAPHY BEE is available on Amazon. Dr. Marie Fonzi
Yes! If every teacher stood together, they couldn’t stop us!
Please help! I’m trying to put up a new post, not comment on a current one. I’m having all kinds of trouble accessing how to do that. What do I need to do?
Nancy
I don’t think you can. Just tell us you’re commenting off-topic and go for it. 🙂
The idiotic rules regarding the mindless testing of English language learners simply display the ignorance of those in charge. Politicizing education has brought out the worst in our culture. “The accountability train” has left the station along with our ethics and common sense. We find ourselves on the “Animal Farm,” and it’s hard to distinguish the pigs from humans. Bravo to Mary King, who has distinguished herself as a human being!
In AZ we isolate them. An education task force headed by a financial guy came up with this idea. All the students in the class are ELLs, so the only person modeling correct English is the teacher. One hour of grammar, one hour of writing, one hour of reading, and one hour of oral language. All discrete, and contiguous. No breakups of the time. except In Kinder where you can break up the hour of grammar into two sessions. Best practices? AZ ignores them.
I guess this discredits Arne Duncan’s claim that the test serves minority communities. I have advocated for ELL families and I can also testify with certainty that the new reforms are stressing them out. They need more help but not this kind.
Ten cheers for MARY!!! God Bless You!
Opponents of The Common Core testing must be vigilant in responding to editorials and bogus new articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post which praise current education reform. It seems the “reformers” are fighting back via the press and their numerous connections to reporters. Just a Heads Up!
Publications and advocates should definitely be rated by their deformist leanings — selective ignorance and ties to certain billionaires and organizations.
Whether by deformed balloons or Bill Gates pie-in-the-face bobble heads or shovels of steaming manure or crying children, there must be a ranking system fit for the lowest in the intellectual crap heap.
Good idea. Maybe NPE could publish a list.
BTW The idea isn’t to shame the deformers. Reality and truth will not sway them. But when no one listens to them other than each other, that’s when it will all be over.
Mary refused to give the test, but did the administrators at that school refuse to assign those children to other classroom to take the test? When I was still teaching, after the scheduled testing for all students was over, then there were several days where students were pulled out of class or kept in at lunch or after school to make up the tests they missed.
That’s exactly what happens, Lloyd. Good question.
Of course she is retiring. Probably has a husband which cushions the blow. That’s why she could do what she did. Otherwise, she would have been fired for insubordination, no question at all. Other teachers could not afford to do it.
At 26 years of teaching, depending on her age and the requirements for being retired in that state, she might be eligible to collect her retirement now, and if she saved and/or invested during her working life, she might have a nice nest egg.
For instance, I started teaching at thirty and retired at age 60 after teaching for thirty years, but I could have left at age 55 and still collected but a lot less.
Susan~ I have heard that same comment about women having husbands at home for decades, and that those of us who stood strong to defend ethics, decency, honesty, legally, morally and just standing up for the right thing had security. There is truth, but we allow others to force us into submission.
IMHO, I think this is partly why we, as teachers – mostly women, are being bashed and abused by these corptypes. Men usually would not express these concerns. We make ourselves vulnerable and send signals of giving them permission to blackmail, harass, and bully us until we break. We must pay attention to that. When we speak up with conviction, say what we mean, join hands, support each other…not hide, cower, weep, turn over our souls. I have been in numerous situations where I thought long and hard to walk rather than fold. Only lost one job, but stuck to ethics, no matter what. We should coach and each other to be less vulnerable.
Teachers right now are in a fairly unique situation. People are actively trying to fire certain numbers of them. Look at Cuomo. And it takes a great deal of effort and extreme unpleasantness to do it, especially when the teachers have tenure and don’t deserve it. Yet they are being targeted, harassed and ultimately fired nonetheless. It’s going on all over, and any excuse may be taken as reason to begin the whole targeting and hunting and harassing process. This in general does not go on in corporations or even sleazy small businesses where anything goes.
Right! NO! In business, I know from people who are in the corporate world, you do not get to discuss your situation when the manager wants you gone. They march up toyour desk, give you a few minutes to get your personal belongings together, and march you out of the building with security officials at your side. THEY HAVE NO DUE PROCESS AT ALL!
Because we have due process, the administration/board harasses and bullies those they no longer want in the classroom.
There is strength in numbers.
The reality is the pay teachers get is based exactly on the assumption which I made above–they are women being supported financially by husbands. Teaching is what is called a pink collar job. That in a nutshell is why teachers are treated like dirt and are being targeted for elimination. Reformers, like most school districts, assume these women are working for pin money Many of them are not, and that is why they dare not rock the boat. If a teacher has other resources, such as a husband’s income or retirement, she can afford to protest.
Classified employees are treated even worse by school districts, let me tell you.
To be honest, I could not afford to do today what I did in 1995 (Google my name and you’ll see) — owning a house, psychiatric health problems, and too much experience to be hired by another district are why.
I was in the corporate world, and decent companies had extensive annual evals. Employees who were not making the cut, would go through stages of warnings, penalties, downgrades and transfers to other teams or departments. There was no targeting or bullying.
A bit snarky, Susan. Maybe she has another person to depend on financially, but that is irrelevant. She had the courage to do what she did despite whatever repercussions might have followed.
It isn’t snarky. It is entirely relevant. I guess your lifestyle is comfortable enough you can afford to be critical of administrators. Most of us cannot. Married women, especially of the professional type, have NO clue whatsoever what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck.
This woman clearly has options. Most of us do not.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
I am a teacher in the Chicago area who also teaches a wide variety of English Learners, many of whom are refugees. Because some parents in my district were exercising their parental rights, I realized that I had a social justice issue staring me square in face. Those families had the power and privilege of knowing English and the culture and the political know-how of navigating the education system to advocate for what was right for their own children. But EL parents, especially refugee parents, did NOT have this advantage. I pointed this out to leaders, decision-makers, in my district and was able to convince them that if I asked my students if they understood the test questions and they responded “No” that THAT who be the equivalent of a test refusal so that my students and their families could exercise their rights just like other English speaking families could. So that is what we did. There were no tears in my classroom this year. That is not to say that there weren’t tears or stress expressed elsewhere in the building, but my newcomers weren’t among them!!!
Sounds like everyone here is able to administer tests to their OWN students. I got to do that this year because I threatened to make a fuss otherwise and said the testing was not meant to be given any other way, but most teachers did not even know most of the kids they were proctoring tests for. That was the case for me in previous years but I just won’t cooperate with that anymore. Do you all get to test your own, and only your own, students??