We need more teachers like this

If you are proud of your high testsandgrades or ashamed of your low ones, you are a part of the problem.

But if those who get low testsandgrades speak up against them they are easily labelled as ‘sour grapes’.

That’s why those who get high testsandgrades have a responsibility to speak up and reject any accolades. Because they know that standardized tests measure what matters least. They also know that the costs of standardized testing are entirely unacceptable.

In New York, teachers are now evaluated and ranked according to their students’ standardized test scores. While it’s true that we should all speak out against this malpractice, it’s especially important that the high scoring teachers do so.

That’s why Julie Cavanagh, a teacher from Brooklyn, is so important. Cavanagh writes::

According to the numbers, I am a highly effective New York City public school teacher. But you won’t see me jumping for joy over the news.

This is one of many of ways to refuse our cooperation with test and punish accountability regimes.

Of course another method is for parents to say “Not with my child you don’t”.