Fw: SFU dean defends 'no test' teacher

["Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: E Wayne Ross 
To: arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 3:37 PM
Subject: [arn2-strategy] SFU dean defends 'no test' teacher


SFU dean defends 'no test' teacher; He says the educator was
protecting her students from 'psychological and educational vandalism'

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=fd28792b-3c17-4f5f-b75c-89165f165410

The Vancouver Sun
Tue 30 Oct 2007
Page: B7
Section: Westcoast News
Byline: Janet Steffenhagen
Source: Vancouver Sun

The dean of education at Simon Fraser University says a teacher who
defied her employer by refusing to deliver a mandatory reading test to
her Grade 3 students should serve as an inspiration and role model for
all teachers.

In a speech to SFU graduates this month, Paul Shaker praised Kathryn
Sihota, a Vancouver Island teacher, for engaging in civil disobedience
to protect her students from "psychological and educational
vandalism," despite knowing that she risked discipline and public
disapproval for her actions.

"You should remember that you entered the profession at the moment
when this courageous teacher was taking her principled stand," Shaker
told graduates in a fall convocation speech now posted on SFU's
website. "Let her character, conviction and willingness to act be an
inspiration to you."

Although his comments landed in the midst of a province-wide debate
about the value of standardized tests, Shaker said in an interview he
was making a point about the need for professionals to take
non-violent action in defence of their principles and he was not
passing judgment on the tests.

But he admitted he is particularly sensitive to the debate about
standardized tests because before moving to Canada he spent many years
as an educator in the U.S., where he said students have been damaged
through rampant abuse of high-stakes testing.

"I like to think that won't happen in Canada," he said, "but I don't
think that we can be complacent."

B.C. Education Minister Shirley Bond said it was irresponsible of
Shaker to encourage teachers to engage in civil disobedience rather
than working cooperatively with others on issues of mutual interest.

"It's unfortunate when political agendas become part of a graduation
speech to teachers in the province," Bond added.

But the B.C. Teachers' Federation, which supported Sihota in her fight
with the Sooke board, cheered Shaker's stance.

"It's so heartening to see someone outside of teaching and someone
with the stature of Paul Shaker ... making those comments, especially
to student teachers," union vice-president Susan Lambert said in an
interview.

A longtime teacher and union leader, Sihota said she decided not to
administer the District Assessment of Reading test to her students at
Millstream elementary after seeing a nervous child break down in
tears.

She said the test was not worth that amount of stress.

As a result of that decision, Sihota was called before the Sooke board
of education last month and given a letter of discipline for
insubordination, which her union has grieved.

Shaker, when asked by The Sun if he agrees the tests are damaging to
students, insisted he wasn't taking a position on the tests. "That
judgment would have to be made in the context of the teacher in the
classroom," he said.

But in his speech to almost 300 new teachers, Shaker said they have a
professional obligation "to protect our students, not only from
bullets or brutality, as we have seen teachers regularly do, but also
from psychological and educational vandalism against their spirits.
And this is what Kathryn Sihota has sought to do."

Penny Tees, head of the B.C. School Trustees' Association, declined to
discuss Sihota's actions but said she doesn't accept the contention
that tests damage students' spirits. She noted that even B.C.'s
representative for children and youth, Mary-Ellen Turpel-Lafond, has
defended the tests.

"If every teacher had the right to eliminate the pieces of the
curriculum that they personally don't agree with and don't want to
teach, then we would have a very, very hard time managing a public
school curriculum," said Tees.

Shaker said he does not have a problem with the most controversial
standardized test in B.C. -- the Foundation Skills Assessment -- but
is highly critical of the way it is used to rank schools.


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