Fwd: [arn2-strategy] ABC News on Carl Chew's Protest

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>
> Date: Fri Apr 25, 2008  12:52:10 PM US/Pacific
> To: ARN Main List <arn-l@interversity.org>,  arn2-strategy 
> <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>, ARN State <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [arn2-strategy] ABC News on Carl Chew's Protest
> Reply-To: arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com
>
> Note that this story already has attracted 128 comments, most of them
> very critical of testing overkill
>
> SEATTLE TEACHER SAYS TESTS KILL LEARNING
>
> DISTRICT SUSPENDS HIM WITHOUT PAY FOR INSUBORDINATION
> ABC News -- April 25, 2008
> by Susan Donaldson James
>
> When it's time each spring for Carl Chew to give his Seattle
> sixth-graders the federally required standardized tests, he can feel
> their anxiety.
>
> They complain about stomachaches, they get sick and some of them just
> start to cry. Even the straight-A students.
>
> For both teachers and young children, the annual Washington Assessment
> of Student Learning test creates an atmosphere "rife with fear," the
> science teacher at Nathan Eckstein Middle School told ABCNEWS.com.
>
> "The WASL is presented in a secretive, cold and inhuman fashion," he
> said. "The teacher is not allowed to read the questions, or help, and
> the kids have to maintain silence for hours and hours. They are only
> allowed a bathroom break once in a while."
>
> But after agonizing about the detrimental effects of standardized
> testing for several years, Chew did something about it last week. He
> refused to administer the test, which is the key measure of academic
> progress under the federally mandated No Child Left Behind law.
>
> The WASL is just one of numerous high-stakes tests that now dominate 
> the
> curricula of elementary schools across the country. A growing number of
> teacher and parents are rejecting these kind of tests, which have
> increased in frequency and gravitas after No Child Left Behind.
>
> They rebel at their own peril, however. Chew was suspended for nine 
> days
> without pay by his principal. But today -- sitting at home while a
> substitute teacher takes his place -- he is a rock star among parents
> and teachers who have blamed the testing for stamping out the love of
> learning in children.
>
>         Harmful to Students
>
> "I have let my administration know that I will no longer give the WASL
> to my students," Chew wrote in an e-mail to national supporters. "I 
> have
> done this because of the personal moral and ethical conviction that the
> WASL is harmful to students, teachers, schools and families."
>
> The e-mail was circulated by Mothers Against the WASL, a group of
> activist parents who oppose the test. Chew received hundreds of letters
> from as far away as Hawaii and Canada, some of them from students.
>
> "They have all said 'thank you, Mr. Chew, for standing up against
> WASL,'" he said.
>
> One e-mail came from Beth Hovee of Vancouver, Wash., whose 8-year-old
> granddaughter Zoe fears reading because of a battery of repetitive 
> speed
> tests.
>
> "Drill and kill is the motto of the WASL," Hovee said. "She's a smart
> kid, but the pressure tests and teaching techniques make her hate 
> school."
>
> Zoe took her first WASL this week. "It gets really quiet in the room 
> and
> the door is closed," she told ABCNEWS.com. "When you get stuck on a
> question, the teacher can't help. You don't know what to do and you 
> have
> to figure it out."
>
> Her 10-year-old brother Jonah -- a stellar student -- was traumatized 
> by
> the WASL last year.
>
> "They have this big rule about not going to the bathroom," his mother,
> Andrea Logue, said. "In the middle of testing he asks to go and the
> teacher said she was sorry, but we he couldn't leave. Much to his
> mortification, he wet his pants."
>
> Incidents like these reassure Chew that his protest is important, but
> Seattle Public School spokesman David Tucker defended the suspension.
>
> "Our expectation is that all schools will administer any and all
> state-required tests," he told ABCNEWS.com. "I am a parent as well. I
> think accountability is something we should definitely stress within 
> the
> school district. We need to know where the children are academically 
> and
> ensure that they reach levels they need to reach to move forward."
>
>         Teacher Is Hero
>
> The popular Washington teacher is now a hero among national critics of
> the controversial 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, which has faced
> numerous court challenges and has been actively opposed by state 
> teacher
> unions and many school districts.
>
> President Bush's sweeping education reform law, which is up for
> reauthorization, aims to narrow the achievement gap between
> disadvantaged and other students and to make schools more accountable.
> It requires states to set standards and assessments and mandates annual
> testing in reading and math for grades 3 through 8.
>
> "Some children handle these tests well and some are sent over the 
> edge,"
> said Walter Gilliam of the Child Study Center at the Yale School of
> Medicine. "What we need is good research."
>
> Gilliam said No Child Left Behind places the wrong emphasis on
> accountability.
>
> "It's one thing if we have tests for the sake of improving instruction
> for children," he told ABCNEWS.com "But it's quite another thing to 
> give
> a test for the sake of holding adults accountable. What I would rather
> see is observing teachers as they teach, rather than shouldering it on
> children."
>
> The WASL is given each spring to students in grades 3-8 and grade 10,
> and covers reading, writing, math and science. Starting this year,
> students had to pass reading and writing on the 10th-grade exam to
> graduate from high school. Students are graded as "below, meeting or
> exceeding" standards
>
> "The teachers really play it up," said the father of a fourth-grader in
> the Lake Washington School District. He didn't want to be identified 
> for
> fear of reprisals against his daughter.
>
> "About three weeks ago we started getting e-mails from the other 
> parents
> about bringing in brain food to support the kids through this tough
> period," he told ABCNEWS.com. "I thought it was pathetic to put
> 9-year-olds into that kind of test environment."
>
>         Test 'Serves No Purpose'
>
> His district in Redmond serves highly competitive parents, many of whom
> work for Microsoft, which is headquartered there.
>
> "They put pressure on kids to perform well," he said. "But the test
> serves no purpose. It's nothing more than a benchmark for the state.
> It's connected to money and teachers, who are clearly ranked. It does
> nothing for children."
>
> Donald C. Orlich, professor emeritus of education at Washington State
> University and author of "School Reform: The Great American Brain
> Robbery," agrees the WASL is a "dreadful" test.
>
> "It's a very poorly constructed test," he said. "There is a very high
> correlation between how well a student can read and do math. For those
> who are economically disadvantaged, they don't even have the 
> vocabulary."
>
> Orlich's research echoes one of Chew's complaints: that the WASL
> unfairly uses "white, upper-middle class language."
>
> "I want to nominate him for teacher of the year," Orlich said. "In my
> book I call for that kind of behavior. We need nonviolent strikes
> against WASL."
>
> One such teacher was Robert Allen, a middle school teacher in Arlington
> County, Wash., who was asked to resign after telling parents they could
> opt out of the WASL test.
>
> "I was stunned there was no focus on basic skills," he told 
> ABCNEWS.com.
> "The testing was never about facts or any real learning. It was very
> airy and fuzzy."
>
> "It's not a standardized test at all," said Allen, 39, who now teaches
> in Tennessee and has "no problem" with achievement tests.
>
>         A Good Tool
>
> But Joe Willhoft, the state's assistant superintendent for assessment
> and student information, told ABCNEWS.com that the WASL is a good tool
> for measuring student achievement.
>
> Only half the questions on the test require a written response, and
> experts make sure they have no "unfair and biasing features," Willhoft
> said. "For example, we don't use the words 'tennis' or 'golf.'"
>
> Willhoft admits that some districts and teachers may exert undue
> pressure on children to perform.
>
> "I don't think we are getting an overabundance of pressure from
> parents," he said. "But I do think teachers may feel the need to
> overmotivate students, and it's my hunch some comes from principals."
>
> "Frankly, kids do well if they are somewhat motivated, but there is 
> such
> a thing as being overmotivated," he said. "If students are taught state
> standards, the best we can do for the students is say, 'Here is the
> test, go ahead and do the best you can.'"
>
> Meanwhile, he said teachers like Chew must comply with federal and 
> state
> law. "We are disappointed this teacher made those particular choices,"
> Willhoft said.
>
> Chew, who is 60, said his act of civil disobedience will cost him about
> $1,000 over his nine-day absence. He knows it will go on his permanent
> record and he could ultimately be fired.
>
> "It took me a few moments before I decided to do this," he said. "I did
> protesting around the Vietnam War and marched for civil rights in the
> '60s. But this was the first time I did something against a seemingly
> huge machine."
>
> "I feel so strongly about this -- that it's bad for the kids and I have
> to do it," he said. "But I know from my own experience, I have to 
> accept
> the consequences."
>
>      http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4720675&page=1
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> <*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
>     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arn2-strategy/
>
> <*> Your email settings:
>     Individual Email | Traditional
>
> <*> To change settings online go to:
>     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arn2-strategy/join
>     (Yahoo! ID required)
>
> <*> To change settings via email:
>     mailto:arn2-strategy-digest@yahoogroups.com
>     mailto:arn2-strategy-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
>
> <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>     arn2-strategy-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
> <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
>     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll
http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F
Add this text to your own email and blog signatures!