Seattle Teachers Refuse to Administer Standardized Test

Garfield High teachers won't give required test they call flawed

Teachers at Seattle's Garfield High are refusing to give district-required tests known as Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, saying they are flawed exams that waste time and don't help teachers or students.

By Linda Shaw

Seattle Times education reporter

Teacher concerns about MAP tests

In refusing to give MAP tests, Garfield teachers listed nine concerns. Among them:

• They don't know what content the test covers.

• Ninth-graders who receive extra support are tested more than others, even though they are the very students who can't afford to lose classroom time.

• The time needed to give the test, which is administered online, ties up the school's computer lab for weeks.

• The results can be artificially low because many students don't take the test seriously.

• The district purchased MAP under the late Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who was on the board of the company that sells the exam, which teachers consider a conflict of interest.

 

Garfield High teacher Kit McCormick was supposed to bring her ninth-graders to the school's computer lab Wednesday so they could take a district-required reading test.

Instead, they stayed put, joining a schoolwide protest against that test and others that are known as the Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP.

MAP testing was scheduled to start at Garfield before the December holiday break, but so far not a single class has shown up at the lab to take it.

On Thursday, the teachers publicly announced their unhappiness with the test at an after-school news conference, saying it's a waste of time that doesn't help students or teachers.

Monty Neill, the executive director of FairTest, a national organization opposed to high-stakes uses of standardized tests, said he could remember only one other time that so many teachers at one school boycotted a test, and that was in Chicago more than a decade ago.

With about 20 teachers standing in support behind her, McCormick was one of three teachers who explained that Garfield's faculty has no problem with state testing, or testing in general. But they say this particular test has a number of problems, everything from what it covers to how well it measures achievement.

Nearly the entire faculty and staff at Garfield have signed a letter listing those concerns and others. Even teachers who don't give the exam, because they don't teach the tested subjects, signed the letter.

McCormick said she was particularly dismayed when a district staff member told her that the test's margin of error is greater than the gains her students are expected to make.

In a statement, district administrators defended MAP, saying it helps the district analyze student achievement and measure how much students improve over time. They said they expect all teachers to give all required tests and will determine on a case-by-case basis what to do with those who refuse.

In the past, the district has disciplined at least three teachers who declined to give other, state-required tests, including former Eckstein Middle School teacher Carl Chew in 2008.

But administrators also stressed that they're in the middle of a review of all tests that Seattle Public Schools students take, including MAP, with a report due to the School Board this spring.

"We want to examine whether or not there are legitimate concerns about any test that we have here in Seattle Public Schools," said Bob Boesche, the district's interim deputy superintendent.

"We want to do that, however, together, and we want to do that with the right expertise in the room, including those who have designed our tests and those who are using them," Boesche said.

Garfield teachers, he said, will be invited to participate.

Seattle schools give MAP exams two or three times each year to students in grades one through nine and to some older students. The district uses the results as one way to measure the progress of students and schools, and, starting this year, the performance of teachers.

Does the fact that the test will play a part in their evaluations worry the teachers?

"Very," said Mario Shaunette, head of Garfield's math department.

"Ditto," said McCormick.

Jesse Hagopian, a history teacher, said he hopes Superintendent José Banda will work with teachers rather than discipline them, given that Banda is new to the district and wasn't the one to bring in the MAP test.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Michael L. Cubbin on January 13, 2013 at 10:17am

This article goes to support the apathy and crisis we are facing here in US education. Having taught abroad, I can personally tell you that to those in other countries (where high stakes testing is producing many of the valedictorians and salutatorians we have in our schools once they emigrate to the US) our complaints make us sound like petulant babies. In China alone, the most popular subjects of middle school students are chemistry, physics and international trade (all taught using a high school curriculum.) While I could spend all day dissecting some of the complaints from Garfield teachers, let's just look at a few:

"They (I assume students) don't know what content the test covers." Are we not still using the Barron's or Kaplan review books I had in high school? If the students don't know what will be on the test, then what in the world are the teachers teaching five days a week? If the teachers are not covering core/content material year round, then what the heck are they doing? Nobody wants to hear this, but statistically our teachers are being recruited from the bottom third of college graduating classes. Does this provide any frame of reference for anyone? Also, students need to be informed that they will need to think when taking the tests. The answers are not just going to jump off the pages at them.

"Ninth-graders who receive extra support are tested more than others, even though they are the very students who can't afford to lose classroom time." I realize our students have very busy social schedules today, but is any studying done at home anymore? And are these the same teachers who advocate ending the burden of doing any homework at all? No homework = no pass the test. So is it possible that the "extra support" being given here is due to the lack of a rigorous homework schedule. Or perhaps so much time is being lost as a result of poor classroom management? For their next PD, I think these Garfield teachers should be required to watch "Stand and Deliver", the true story of Jaime Escalante as well as "2 Million Minutes", the documentary about what students in other countries are really doing in their spare time vs. what our students are doing after school.

“The results can be artificially low because many students don't take the test seriously.” I am truly baffled by this comment. Was this written by a teacher, or the guy who dropped out and is working the drive-up window at the local burger joint? If these teachers are not motivating students as to the “why” they are coming to school and taking these tests, are they then just accepting failure and collecting a paycheck? Seriously, is Garfield in such a sad state that when students do poorly on tests, their logical solution is to toss the test. If the students don’t do homework, do we just stop assigning it? What will we do for people who run red lights – remove the traffic signal? Speeding – all roads become the Autobahn! Baggy pants… Remove the pants! Seriously?

I understand the solutions are not always easy, and do not always happen overnight, but we need to start somewhere. Perhaps many of us have forgotten, or never had pep rallies. While intended for sports, they could easily be applied to a student body for educational purposes. Doctors, lawyers, CEOs, administrators all require motivation to set the tone that organizations operate. Students need motivation as well. What is the purpose of pulling students in for hours and days of extra prep if the student sees no value in it? It is a waste of time.

And yes, I am a teacher - in NYC - going on 13 years. Eight years of teaching Regents Earth science and I have had three (3) students fail, but with over half receiving greater than 90%. I am now in a 100% ELL Spanish-speaking school where I teach chemistry. My first year I had 50% pass rate (and I was out for a month), and last year 100% of my students passed the Regents (yes, 100%) with no extra study classes – just curriculum, review and then the Regents. We need to begin thinking differently. We need to clearly demonstrate to students WHY they are here.

Now for the plug. Having been an ESL/EFL teacher in Asia I acquired most of my pedagogical methods from experiences I learned in the East. Though a doctor and science teacher, my website speakenglishwithme.org is designed for increasing English fluency in our ELLS. If our kids don't understand what we are teaching, they will never learn. The website is undergoing a dramatic overhaul and we are now gearing up for the younger grades since that is where our customers are asking for. Increasing fluency does not have to be the burden it is made out to be. In addition, my second book “The Business of School” will be out by the summer (hopefully) with a busy seminar series to follow. The Business of School details how I have used my business experience of running a high-volume practice, supported by sound management practices, to increase student expectations and well as achievements.

And yes, this is how I spend my Sunday mornings :)

Best Regards,

Dr. Michael Cubbin

 

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