January 30, 2013
A boycott of Seattle’s mandated MAP tests by teachers has spread past the Washington state and won support throughout the country by students, teachers and administrators. The boycott was first started by the teachers of Garfield High School, claiming that the Measures of Academy Progress exam measures the teacher’s teaching skills without evaluating the student’s knowledge. The boycott has been recently publicized by major news broadcasts and companies, helping to spread the world to the rest of the United States about the injustice of these standardized tests. The authorized exams for students are not actually testing the students’ abilities, however doing the exact opposite: the test doesn't affect the students in anyway. In my personal experience with MAP tests, almost all of us try to do our best; but we don’t spend more than around a minute on each question. If we don’t know it, we don’t try. The test is not for a grade or helping you get into a good college; most of us students have no idea that the test reflects much about anything. The ones that do, however, might try to excel and give it their best shot for the sake of their teachers and themselves; yet again not all students have a particularly loving relationship with their teacher. Who knows if some students actually try to fail out of hatred for their superior? Although these would be the worst circumstances, the MAP test isn't really testing much at all. Almost all of the teachers and staff at Garfield High are boycotting the test because they say it is not aligned with curriculum and is inappropriately being used by administrators to evaluate teachers, a purpose for which it was not designed. District administrators have defended the test, however the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers have both praised teachers at Garfield High saying “[I] proudly support their efforts in saying ‘no’ to giving their students a flawed test that takes away from learning and is not aligned with the curriculum.” After reading through several articles on the boycott as I have posted links to below, I have found that not only the majority of superiority leaders such as stated in the Seattle Times Editorial, have claimed the teachers are being not only irrational but have chosen the wrong topic and timing to boycott. They proclaim that, “An objective measure of student and teacher performance is critical. Student portfolios and peer reviews plus student-parent surveys are among the many ways to assess teachers. All of those ideas should be examined by the new assessment task force and the district’s own review of its assessment tools.” After reading this article, it sort of opened my eyes about the boycott: there are many other ways of evaluating teacher and student progress. I am not saying that I have revoked my previous opinion on the injustice of MAP testing, however this boycott might have been a bit histrionic. In the Seattle area, 87 out of 95 tests have already been distributed. With that being said, I think it is still very important that the teachers voice their opinions to, in theirs and many others eyes, an unsophisticated bias—after all, isn't that what a “free country” is all about?
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