A Teachable Moment

Some of my colleagues have warned me that the high profile stance I’ve taken against the ways in which standardized are being used may well be tilting at windmills. They don’t see the possibility of defeating the politically powerful, moneyed interests behind the testing mania. I have countered that I have rarely seen a public education issue so uniting of parents, school administrators and teachers, an issue so clearly tied to the high moral ground of the welfare of children.

The Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss, a very assertive critic of state standardized testing regimes, has done the cause of reining in the testocracy a great service with a blog- post summarizing the growing revolt against testing. Take a look at what is happening in this country as professionals and parents demand that policy makers come to their senses about testing.

To add to Strauss’ list, on June 5, teacher union leaders from across Long Island will be meeting to plan a fall strategy to oppose New York’s high stakes tests. Central to that strategy will be an outreach to parents and school administrators in Nassau and Suffolk counties in the hope of building a strong coalition to take on those who would measure authentic education our of existence. In undertaking this effort, these union leaders will be implementing a resolution of NYSUT, their state union, to bring about an end to New York’s current testing system.