“Last week, CTA’s Board of Directors voted to stand in solidarity with the Seattle teachers who have taken a brave stance against standardized testing. Below is the letter sent to the president of the Seattle Education Association from CTA President Dean Vogel.
January 17, 2013
Jonathan Knapp
President, Seattle Education Association
5501 4th Ave S.
Seattle, WA 98108
Dear President Knapp,
On behalf of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association, I want to voice our support for the teachers at Garfield and Ballard High Schools who are boycotting the Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) test. In California, we have many of the same concerns about tests used as an evaluation tool when they do not line up with state standards or district curriculum and are not designed at all to measure teacher quality. We are also deeply concerned about the overemphasis on standardized tests as an indicator of student achievement.
The teachers at Garfield and Ballard High Schools and the Seattle Education Association are speaking truth to power in conducting their boycott of the MAP test. CTA joins you in bringing this important issue to the attention of the public and in striking a balance between testing and student learning.
Sincerely,
Dean E. Vogel
President, California Teachers Association”
As reported at the CTA Blog.
Scrap the MAP! 