Wis. teacher protests No Child law
inmytree
Posts: 4,741
good for him..
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071101/ap_on_re_us/teacher_protest
Wis. teacher protests No Child law
By RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press Writer Thu Nov 1, 5:30 AM ET
MADISON, Wis. - A middle school teacher is protesting the federal No Child Left Behind law by refusing to administer a standardized test to his eighth-grade students.
David Wasserman, a middle school teacher in Madison, began his protest Tuesday. Instead of giving students the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam, he sat in the teacher's lounge, leaving his colleagues to oversee the test.
He said he has moral objections to the federal law, President Bush's signature education policy. The state test is used to measure whether schools are meeting annual benchmarks under the law. Schools that do not meet goals can face sanctions.
Like many teachers, Wasserman said he believes the test is a poor way to measure student progress, takes up too much class time and is used unfairly to punish schools. So after years of growing frustration, he said he decided to be a "conscientious objector" this year.
Wasserman said he originally planned to resume his protest on Thursday, the second day of testing, and through four more days of testing next week. But he said Wednesday he would likely back off and give the test after Superintendent Art Rainwater told a teacher's union official that Wasserman could be fired if the protest continued.
"I can't jeopardize health insurance for my family," said Wasserman, 36. "I want to still hold by my morals, which I feel very strongly about. But I have a family to think about."
In a statement released to The Associated Press on Wednesday evening, Rainwater noted the district was required by state law to fulfill the federal requirement.
"It is part of every teacher's duty to administer the test," he said. "Any failure to fulfill this required duty would be considered insubordination and subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination."
Robert Schaeffer, a spokesman for FairTest, a national group that opposes the overuse of standardized tests, said he was unaware of any other teachers who have refused to administer tests to protest No Child Left Behind. Other teachers have boycotted high-stakes state tests used for graduation or promotion, he said.
"It is an act of moral courage, and it certainly helps call attention to the widespread misuse of standardized testing," he said. "The natural bureaucratic reaction is always to threaten people with severe sanctions. That's why people have to have the moral fiber to put themselves at risk."
Wasserman, who has taught in the district for six years, said he is being treated unfairly because his colleagues at Sennett Middle School could administer the test without him.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071101/ap_on_re_us/teacher_protest
Wis. teacher protests No Child law
By RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press Writer Thu Nov 1, 5:30 AM ET
MADISON, Wis. - A middle school teacher is protesting the federal No Child Left Behind law by refusing to administer a standardized test to his eighth-grade students.
David Wasserman, a middle school teacher in Madison, began his protest Tuesday. Instead of giving students the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam, he sat in the teacher's lounge, leaving his colleagues to oversee the test.
He said he has moral objections to the federal law, President Bush's signature education policy. The state test is used to measure whether schools are meeting annual benchmarks under the law. Schools that do not meet goals can face sanctions.
Like many teachers, Wasserman said he believes the test is a poor way to measure student progress, takes up too much class time and is used unfairly to punish schools. So after years of growing frustration, he said he decided to be a "conscientious objector" this year.
Wasserman said he originally planned to resume his protest on Thursday, the second day of testing, and through four more days of testing next week. But he said Wednesday he would likely back off and give the test after Superintendent Art Rainwater told a teacher's union official that Wasserman could be fired if the protest continued.
"I can't jeopardize health insurance for my family," said Wasserman, 36. "I want to still hold by my morals, which I feel very strongly about. But I have a family to think about."
In a statement released to The Associated Press on Wednesday evening, Rainwater noted the district was required by state law to fulfill the federal requirement.
"It is part of every teacher's duty to administer the test," he said. "Any failure to fulfill this required duty would be considered insubordination and subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination."
Robert Schaeffer, a spokesman for FairTest, a national group that opposes the overuse of standardized tests, said he was unaware of any other teachers who have refused to administer tests to protest No Child Left Behind. Other teachers have boycotted high-stakes state tests used for graduation or promotion, he said.
"It is an act of moral courage, and it certainly helps call attention to the widespread misuse of standardized testing," he said. "The natural bureaucratic reaction is always to threaten people with severe sanctions. That's why people have to have the moral fiber to put themselves at risk."
Wasserman, who has taught in the district for six years, said he is being treated unfairly because his colleagues at Sennett Middle School could administer the test without him.
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Comments
Standarized tests are good for examining curriculum ONLY.
standardized tests produce standardized children
while bush was "reaching out" to the dems.....written by ted kennedy
gave them everything they wanted, within a couple of months, they were complaining bush didn't do enough...the most money ever spent on schools
let me guess... 9/11 was clintons fault :rolleyes:
truth is truth
no 9/11 wasn't clinton's fault.
his fault was he did not jack shit while we were getting hit through the 90's.
after the "blackhawk down" crap, osama said the american people couldn't take the thought of any blood being spilled and it strengthened his resolve to attack us.
looks like he was right
No we can stomach seeing blood being spilt, look at WW II, as long as it is for a good reason.
not that I'm saying you're incorrect, but could you give a bit more detail as to what your talking about here...
It's really unfortunate we have No Child Left Behind. Every teacher I know hates it.
but the illusion of knowledge.
~Daniel Boorstin
Only a life lived for others is worth living.
~Albert Einstein
Thankfully, my kids were in the gifted program so they weren't subjected to so much of this ... it was assumed they'd do well on the test, so all they had was a brief review. But they had friends in the regular curriculum and I heard them talk about their classes and how much they hated them. I looked at the work they were doing and understood why. It was mostly multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blanks worksheets designed to help them memorize what was on the tests.
-Bill Hicks
so; no child left behind means equal education to all children. we will no longer pass children to upper grades just because they show up to class if they don't comprehend the material because they will fail in those upper grades.
now; this bloke thinks he should pass his students to high school and is afraid that he didn't teach his children the proper and necessary curriculum. or is it because he COULDN'T teach them?
the entire reason for the program was that minority children were passed to higher grades without the knowledge. they continued to pass them until age 16 when they could drop out and sell drugs and rob people; break into houses; etc; because that's the level they had education for.
this coward should lose his teaching license. so is wisconsin going to start turning out idiots now?