TSJ Letter of Support for Teachers at Saucedo and Drummond who are Boycotting the ISAT
March 3, 2014
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| (Saucedo rally - photo by Greg Goodman) |
February 28, 2014
To the teachers at Saucedo Elementary and Drummond
Elementary schools,
Teachers for Social Justice fully supports your decision to
refuse to administer the 2014 ISAT test to your students. Thank you for taking
this important step to protect your students from a week of testing that does
not benefit them and does not allow teachers to teach. Your decision is a
courageous one in the face of threats from the CEO of CPS that your jobs and
your teaching certification may be at risk. By refusing to administer yet
another standardized test you are saying “no” to the idea that a test written
by a company far from the classroom can assess your students in a meaningful
way.
Teachers are in a unique position to understand the damage
that overuse and misuse of standardized testing can do to students. Research
has shown that high stakes standardized tests narrow the curriculum; increase
stress levels for teachers, parents and students, and drive many teachers from
the profession. These tests make school less engaging and less relevant to
students’ lives.
CPS has announced that this year the ISAT test has no impact
on students’ grade promotion or admission into selective programs. The ISAT is
no longer part of the “school performance policy” nor will it be used to
evaluate teachers. CPS’s claim that the ISAT is aligned to Common Core standards
is dubious at best since the PARCC exam, which is being designed to measure
performance on those standards, has been years in the making and has yet to be
released. The ISAT will not help teachers understand their students or improve
instruction for them. Because CPS has not provided any valid reason to give
this test hundreds of parents have opted their children out of this test. We
applaud your decision to support your students and the teaching profession in
this way.
Thank you for taking a stand against the misuse and overuse of
standardized tests. Thank you for risking your jobs to give your students the
education they deserve.
In Solidarity,
Teachers for Social Justice
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