Hello!
Elementary school parent Janine Sopp and I were interviewed on WBAI's radio show Education at the Crossroads tonight. We spoke with host Basir Mshawi about the damaging effects of high-stakes testing and gave folks information about how to sign the petition that demands an opt-out option for parents as well as the immediate halting of any plan for K-2 testing. You can listen to the show in its entirety here: http://archive.wbai.org/show1.php?showid=eatcrossr We speak about half an hour in, and beforehand there were some activists from the Bronx speaking about the work they are doing to fight the school closings. It's a great hour overall.
In less than one week the testing committee of the Grassroots Education Movement collected over 600 signatures on our petition; our ultimate goal is to collect the names of thousands of concerned citizens across the state and present them to the state legislature and the DOE in early April. Please take a moment to sign! Only your city and state will be posted on line.
So many of us are concerned about the damaging effects of excessive high-stakes testing, and there is a growing momentum to put an end to them nationally. Because there is so much money to be made with this type of testing, it is important to think very strategically about how to build a movement and demand a change in policies. It is important to bring informed and experienced teachers and parents into the creation of a more broadly based assessment to show that there is no need to use these high stakes tests as a way to measure success. Parents should have the right to opt their children out of these tests and demand a more accurate assessment to provide a true snapshot of learning that's going on in a school rather than use them to make high-stakes decisions. Parents should have a right to say that they do not want their children and their children's education influenced so heavily by these exams.
We hope that you will sign and share! http://signon.org/sign/give-new-york-state-parents?source= c.em.cp&r_by=1929140
Sincerely,Liza Campbell
Written and edited by Norm Scott: EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!! Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
Ed Notes Extended
▼
Friday, January 20, 2012
Sign the Damn Petition on High Stakes Testing
Liza and Janine are two of the fab activists in GEM. Liza is a 4th year teacher and Janine is the parent of a 7 year old. They work with the GEM High Stakes Testing Committee.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are welcome. Irrelevant and abusive comments will be deleted, as will all commercial links. Comment moderation is on, so if your comment does not appear it is because I have not been at my computer (I do not do cell phone moderating). Or because your comment is irrelevant or idiotic.