Teachers at Chief Sealth International High School join the MAP test boycott
Several teachers on staff at Chief Sealth International High School in Seattle signed the following letter:
Be it resolved that we, the undersigned educators from Chief Sealth International High School, do hereby support statements and actions of our colleagues at Garfield High School regarding the MAP test. Furthermore, we join our colleagues in their boycott and refuse to administer the MAP test to students at Chief Sealth International High School.
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Dear Superintendent Banda,
I was pleased to see you assemble a Joint Task Force on Assessments and Measuring Progress for Seattle schools, a step that might have been taken long ago when Seattle teachers first started calling attention to the proliferation of time-consuming tests being administered to our kids. Forming this Task Force was the right thing to do, and I commend you for it.
That’s why I was so surprised this week to see you direct school principals to discipline teachers for insubordination who refuse to administer the MAP test this winter. These teachers have been telling the District for years that the test is unhelpful, inaccurate and not good for kids, but they could never get anyone’s attention. Now that they have your attention, you are going to discipline them?
I am a former school board member in Seattle (1990-1993), and was active in site councils and PTSAs in Seattle through 2009. We have a long history of making mistakes in our relations with teachers, mostly because we fail to listen to them. When I started my term on the school board, my son was in a Seattle public elementary school. He is now one of the teachers at Garfield High School who is leading this struggle against the MAP test.
The superintendent of one of the best school districts in America–Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools–Joshua Starr, has called for a three-year moratorium on standardized testing. He called for aligning all future assessments with the national Common Core standards. In joining his lead, you would be responding to Seattle’s teachers and students in a meaningful way.
I know there are voices for piling on with standardized tests. Most of those voices do not have the best interests of our students at heart. Trust the parents and teachers in Seattle to tell you what’s best, despite the officious nattering of those driven by other agendas. The latter do not have their kids in public schools, and are not positioned to help us educate our kids to become world citizens.
Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson sold Seattle a bill of goods, but you don’t have to get left holding the bag.
Best wishes, and I mean that sincerely. You’ve got a tough job.
Amy Hagopian, PhD
Amy Hagopian, PhD
University of Washington School of Public Health
Box 354809, Seattle WA 98195 or
4534 11th Av. NE Seattle WA 98105
206-616-4989 or 543-8382; at home 206-706-0989
hagopian@u.washington.edu