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Chicago Teachers Union demands end of standardized testing
[DAILYCALLER] The Chicago Teachers Union urged school administrators nationwide to discontinue the use of standardized tests, deriding them as corporate tools.
"Corporates are ucky, y'know."
Not to mention it was not long ago that the Freakonomics man demonstrated he could differentiate the test results of classes taught by good teachers from those who either fed their students the right answers or those who replaced wrong answers in Chicago city schools. If I recall correctly, some Chicago teachers lost jobs over it.
The CTU recently released a report arguing that standardized tests are a faulty measure of student achievement. They also advance a pro-corporate agenda, the report said.
"We wouldn't want our kiddies to grow up and work for soulless companies!"
"Corporate interests continue to push towards a test‐centered public education system that is clearly harmful to students," according to the report.
"Students never had to take tests in the past. Why should they now?"
The union's anti-testing push is part of a broader campaign by teachers unions nationwide. Teachers at one Seattle high school recently went on strike, refusing to administer a test that they feared would be used to hold them accountable.
"If youse guys don't pass the test, it'll look like we didn't teach you nothin'!"
"But Miz Bleps, you din't teach us nothin'!"
Anti-testing efforts have also appeared in Providence, Rhode Island, and Portland, Oregon.
So as you can see they've taken root even in highly conservative states...
With propositions to tie teacher pay to student achievement gaining popularity among education reformers, teachers unions have stepped up efforts to end standardized testing. Without tests, administrators will have no data upon which to base merit pay for teachers.
"But really, it's a matter of principle!"
Opposition to standardized tests put teachers unions at odds with reformers on the left. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel lost a merit pay battle with the CTU in September. And President Obama has supported policies that reward states for evaluating teachers based on students' test scores.
"But that's, like, outcome-based education! It's corporate!"
But teachers unions have found a key ally in their push to abolish tests: the students themselves.
"No tests? Kewl!"
Posted by: Fred 2013-02-19
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=362568