By Sue Peters, founding member, Parents Across America Originally published in EdVoices on January 30, 2013, republished with permission For his first school-library experience in kindergarten, my five-year-old son was not allowed to check out a book. Instead he was placed in front of a computer with a set of headphones and told to take a test for an hour. That was my family’s introduction to the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP®), a computerized, adaptive test for math and English, … →
“We don’t just have failing schools; we have a failing system of epidemic proportions. Community and parent voices have been removed from the process and the privatization has removed all checks and balances so that the system is no longer accountable to the public,” said Karran Harper-Royal, parent with Parents Across America, New Orleans. “The answer is not charter schools, the answer is fortifying traditional public schools through a community-driven process.” FOR MORE INFORMATION: Laurie R. Glenn Phone: 773.704.7246 E-mail: … →
Here is the link to PAA’s testing webinar which took place on Sunday, January 27, 2013. Our guests were: Sarah Richardson, teacher at Garfield High School and part of the MAP test boycott Shaun Johnson, a former public school teacher, current teacher educator and online radio show co-host of At the Chalk Face who is a founder of United Opt Out National. Monty Neill, Executive Director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest). Dr. Neill authored Implementing … →
The Weekly Update for the news and views you might have missed. It’s been quite a week in our fair city. Many of us here in Seattle have watched the destruction of the teaching profession, schools and communities around the country based on the use of standardized test scores to further an agenda of corporate reform and privatization using the scorched earth approach to education and we do not want to see that happen in Seattle or anywhere else for … →
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013 MEDIA ALERT 18 CITIES CONVERGE IN WASHINGTON D.C ON “JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE,” CALLING ON DEPT. OF EDUCATION TO END DISCRIMINATORY CLOSINGS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS National Movement Forms In Wake Of Mass School Closings & Turnarounds That Violate Civil Rights & Promote Divestment In Low-Income Communities Of Color WHAT: Students, parents and advocacy representatives from 18 major United States cities will testify at a hearing before the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. … →
UPDATED 1/31/13 Attention public education supporters in: OHIO MICHIGAN INDIANA ILLINOIS Would you like to join with others in our 4-state region in coordinated action to support our public schools? Parents Across America, in cooperation with many local groups, invites you to “Public Schools Across America,” a 4-state Regional Action Planning Meeting. Across the country, there is a rising chorus of protest against corporate-style school reform. Parents, teachers, students, principals, superintendents, scholars, school board members, civil rights … →
Parents Across America is pleased to stand with our nation’s schoolteachers in efforts to improve education for all children – efforts that range from the issues raised in the Chicago teachers’ strike to the Seattle teachers’ boycott of wasteful standardized tests. We are proud to be part of a long tradition of parent support for public schoolteachers. Parents voice support Although this nation has been through three decades of hand-wringing over a “crisis in American education,” throughout that entire period … →
Parents Across America is pleased to endorse the position statement of Parents Across America-Seattle in support of the Garfield High School teachers’ principled opposition to the costly and inaccurate MAP® test. Here’s PAA-Seattle’s statement: Parents Across America, Seattle, fully support and applaud the Garfield High School teaching staff in their refusal to administer the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test to their students. The teachers at Garfield, one of the district’s most respected high schools, have taken a thoughtful, principled stand … →
As you might know by now, teachers at Garfield High School in Seattle held a press conference on Friday and announced that they were not going to give the Measurement of Academic Progress (MAP) test to their students for a number of reasons. For the details, see the letter that was issued by the teachers of Garfield High School. Within hours, teachers at Ballard High School followed suit. The Garfield High School PTSA issued the following statement today in support … →
CPS supports Seattle’s Garfield High Teachers: Test Boycott is Courageous Stand for Students, Against Test Abuse Citizens for Public Schools Issues Statement Supporting Seattle’s Garfield High Teachers: “Test Boycott is Courageous Stand for Students, Against Test Abuse” We, the members of Citizens for Public Schools, stand with the teachers at Garfield High School in Seattle for their courageous move to boycott district-mandated Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests. We respect the Garfield teachers for saying no to the escalating use … →
