The teachers at Seattle's Garfield High who are
refusing to administer a flawed standardized test have gained some allies: parents and students. The school's principal and assistant principals are
giving the test under orders from the city's superintendent, but:
Many Garfield parents and students support the boycott, and the school’s PTSA organized a campaign to notify parents of their right to exempt their students from the tests.
On Tuesday, only 97 of the roughly 400 ninth-graders who were supposed to take the MAP reading test did so, said Garfield Principal Ted Howard. The other 300, he said, had their parents’ permission to be excused.
The test in question, the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), not only has a huge margin of error, but it covers content that isn't even being taught in the schools and isn't required by the state. Additionally, Seattle adopted the test through a corrupt process—the superintendent at the time was on the board of the company that sells MAP, something she
didn't disclose to the school district.
Garfield is only the leading edge of MAP resistance. According to the Seattle Times, "About 80 teachers and staff at three other Seattle schools also are boycotting the exams." They will face discipline for the boycott, but the superintendent has said they will not be suspended for two weeks without pay, which was a possibility. But that's the thing about collective action: It's a whole lot harder to really bring the hammer down on dozens of teachers in a high-profile action with substantial support from parents and students.