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Chicago Teachers Union: No More Standardized Testing, Thank You

Feb. 18, 2013 9:30pm Becket Adams

Surprise: Chicago Teachers Union Comes Out Against Standardized Testing

Chicago Teachers Union head Karen Lewis. (Scott Olson/Getty Images).

The Chicago Teachers Union in a recent report urged administrators across the country to do away with standardized testing, saying the process is the product of pro-corporate agendas, The Daily Caller reports.

“Corporate interests continue to push towards a test‐centered public education system that is clearly harmful to students,” the report reads.

The CTU also said standardized testing is a poor method for measuring a student’s proficiency in reading and arithmetic.

It would appear, as TheDC’s Robby Soave notes, that the CTU’s push to do away with standardized testing isn’t an isolated event. Indeed, it appears to be a part of a bigger trend.

“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,” he writes.

“Anti-testing efforts have also appeared in Providence, Rhode Island, and Portland, Oregon” he adds.

One reason, critics argue, teachers unions have increased their efforts to do away with standardized testing is because the drive to attach teacher pay to student achievement has picked up steam in more than a few states. Obviously, this poses a serious threat to those who have failed to teach their students basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. Removing standardized testing would make it more difficult to identify ineffective teachers, this protecting them from correction or removal.

“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,” TheDC notes. “And President Obama has supported policies that reward states for evaluating teachers based on students’ test scores.”

Surprisingly enough, a number of students back the teachers unions in their crusade to do away with merit-based pay.

“In Portland, members of a group calling itself the Portland Student Union have urged fellow students to boycott the Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills,” the report notes. “And in Seattle, many students have decided to stand in solidarity with teachers who refuse to administer the Measures of Academic Progress test.”

“We really think our teachers are making the right decision,” student body president at Seattle’s Garfield High School Obadiah Stephens-Terryin said a statement.

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Comments (114)

GrumpyCat
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:40pm
Is not a state license to teach a form of standardized test?

Considering the results, I think they are right, put an end to standardized tests. Put an end to standardized requirements for teachers. Put an end to standardized union membership as a requirement to teach.

Clearly Chicago’s teachers are too stupid to have fully thought through their position. Their time is past.

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- TexasKnight
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 11:28pm
  Refuse to administer the test?
  We have unemployment of 15%, and they refuse to do their jobs?
  FIRE them. FIRE every last one of them now!
  The students that stand with the teachers and refuse to take the test, well they can find the unemployment line with out a high school diploma also.
  The teachers pay should be cut and cut now. Since they want to be thought of as nothing more than baby sitters (they do not want to be held accountable for teaching), they should be earning about seven bucks an hour. Find teachers that want to teach, and pay them.
  
  Report this comment
- Libertarian
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 11:45pm
  I agree to end standardized testing. Last thing we need is a Federal or State Government determining what level our kids should be at. Bring it back to local levels.
  
  Report this comment
- yougottabekidding
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 6:07am
  The stupid people are taking over.
  
  Report this comment
- tradcatholicgirl
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 7:10am
  In our school district, they teach to the Standardized test. It has had a negative effect.
  
  They follow state mandated standards. for 12 content areas As if every third grader will hit 12 content areas of proficiency at the same time! It is ridiculous, and kids get left behind when the teachers move on to new content, as the standards mandate, regardless of whether the class has mastered concepts!
  
  Our test scores keep falling.
  
  But the teachers have to stick to the stupid Pennsylvania content standards for 12 areas of proficiency.
  
  Ironically, we also have “No Child Left Behind.” This program ensures that children who have extreme and disruptive behaviors are included in regular classrooms. Nothing gets done because the teacher and the “special” aides spend most of time dealing with behaviors and attempting to restart. The child with the behaviors is not learning, nor is anyone else.
  
  In Chicago, the test scores are probably so bad that the teachers union does not want to take responsibility. But it is not only the teachers unions that are the problem.
  
  Our public school system has been designed from the top down to create a working class without critical thinking skills!! Google John Taylor Gatto.
  
  Report this comment
- qdllc
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 7:57am
  I agree with Libertarian. Standardized testing, in large part, has only lead to teachers educating kids to pass the test. Let the education standards be determined no higher than the state level. It’s easy to get kids to pass the test if you teach the honors class, it’s near impossible if you teach the remedial class. If you are testing and grading fairly, the grades the kids get says all that needs to be said about their academic performance.
  
  That, or issue a real grade for standardized testing. When a kid is told the performance on the test won’t affect their grade, they have no real incentive to do their best.
  
  Report this comment
- The Jewish Avenger
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 8:55am
  Rush your kids to private schools now and quickly, and stress that the ONLY reason you want them there is to be in the top 10% of the population of graduates, if you can’t guarantee it, I’ll take them to places that will.
  
  Report this comment
- SweetDoug
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 10:12am
  ‘
  ‘
  ‘
  ‘
  This argument appeals to the class envy of society.
  
  It is an easy one to make, the demand for standardized testing.
  
  It legitimizes the failure of your children as someone else’s responsibility.
  
  The problem is, with the demand for standardized testing is that that it assumes every student is standardized at a “ability” level and that it is only the teachers lack of ability that is holding the student back.
  
  Not a huge preponderance of social factors that range from societal to the home.
  
  Ability and propensity to learn and the ability to teach is not like picking up a saw and cutting the pieces to get paid.
  
  Correlation and conclusion.
  
  There are plenty of other evaluation techniques to root out poor teachers.
  
  But maybe we should just root out the poor students, too?
  
  •∆•
  V-V
  
  Report this comment
- naughtycal
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 11:29am
  Put an end to a test that evaluates the level at which our public schools are operating….Really.
  Can we stop call the public system an istitution of learning and call it what it truely is
  GOVERNMENT DAYCARE THAT INDOCTRINATES CHILDREN INTO GOOD GOVERNMENT SERVENTS.
  
  Report this comment
- turkey13
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 1:57pm
  It is a shame Regan isn’t in charge. He gave the Air Control folks the finger and started hiring and in about 2 months everything was running smoothly and we never heard about an ACC strike again. Of course he wasn’t castrated by Michelle.
  
  Report this comment
- carhouse
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 4:11pm
  You know really, if you think about it, Chicago kids would be better off if they did NOT go to school at all. Then they would learn about survival and common sense approach to living rather than what is brainwashed into them at school.
  Get rid of the teachers union asap
  
  Report this comment
tadroid
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:37pm
So how many of these little losers are headed to Columbia U.?

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- barber2
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 11:14pm
  TAD: Don’t forget Harvard….gotta meet their quotas….
  
  Report this comment
- missdagnytaggart
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 12:07am
  Maybe they’ll get lucky and have a professor who strips to Lil Wayne and a slideshow of Hitler
  
  Report this comment
- Gonzo
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 7:30am
  It’s a great idea! Lower the academic standards and we can have the highest test scores on the planet! Take that Asia! USA, USA, USA !
  
  Report this comment
Magyar
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:35pm
Can America’s children be made more ignorant and stupid?

Yup—

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- AbrahamsSheepdog
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 5:36am
  Let a Commie or 2 help.
  
  Report this comment
- Gonzo
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 8:24am
  That is the Democrat plan, spend more money on making the electorate more ignorant and win every election by fear mongering and bribing the stupid.
  
  Report this comment
tadroid
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:35pm
That sow, Karen Lewis, doesn’t want any standard applied to anyone associated with the Chicago Public Schools. However, if Gangbanging were a course of study, they’d lead the nation.

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banjarmon
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:31pm
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,”
They are afraid it will show how stupid union teachers can be!!!
FIRE their butts and hire people that want to teach!

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- pissantno.10
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:41pm
  just look at the one in the story. she could not tell you how to find a school , but a fast food joint ya she knows all the best
  
  Report this comment
- Bobj_1960
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 11:10pm
  How dare we hold someone accountable for their job performance. Nobody fails, everyone gets an ‘A’. Everyone gets a 10 percent raise, etc ad nauseum. /endsarc
  
  Report this comment
BlasberryStrat
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:31pm
Stupid American parents….Teachers are not to be held accountable for how their students learn. Hasn’t it been made clear to you by those who are more intelligent than you…i.e. ‘the Teacher’…that their only responsibility is to secretly ogle ‘prime cut’ students and dream what to do on their many – many – many days off?

Take a half day off during each week in order to catch up on what you were supposed to be doing all week long; Hire more teachers to split up your grooling duties (uhhh….sitting?); Take away ‘testing’; Provide a computer and online lessons so you can say “press play”, then sit back and read your vacation brochures and feel satisfied you’ve done your job for the day; Dumb down the smart kids so you don’t have to work harder with the dumb kids. Soooooo…..does that about wrap it up in a pretty package??

Oh, and to Karen Lewis, you have got to be the biggest pig I have ever seen. Here you’re supposed to be a Teacher, and you don’t even realize that no one wants to see the ten pounds of Back Bacon hanging in your chin(s)! You might find life a little healthier if you actually did some work instead of focusing on getting teachers to strike every time they don’t feel appreciated. Pig.

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media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:30pm
I say do away with Commy Care education, give tax breaks to parents willing to home school, strip out the progressive agenda and mind control experiments, and raise our children correctly, because giving your children to “professional educators” for 40 hours a week only accomplishes one thing, 40% of children don’t have fathers?

Open your eyes please?

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ghostsouls
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:29pm
Chicago teachers could not do MORE for their kids, by going on strike…. they don’t teach them any way. the reason for this test result is because they don’t want to show their shameful pathetic teaching skills that fail. Chicago kids are some of the lowest testing kids in the nation… why is that exactly?

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- Comrade_Bob
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:52pm
  This is a comment that is not fair to Chicago teaching professionals GhostSouls. Chicago standardized testing scores are completely comparable to Detroit testing scores, and the testing scores of many Cleveland schools. The problem cannot be laid at the feet of Chicago teachers.
  
  Report this comment
Bangstick
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:26pm
Kids can’t pass test = No money for you
Don’t give the tests = NO money for you

I say just cut the BS = NO MONEY FOR YOU!

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thegreatcarnac
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:25pm
Intergration does not work. Diversity does not work and does what it says it does….diversifies and disunites. Multiculturalism does not work. When the schools became intergrated most of them were either closed in a few years or consolidated. Their grade averages and their safety went to nothing within a generation or lesss. God was correct in putting a sea between Africa and Europe. We, in our stupidity, ….allowed a group of trash-liberals turn our children into a failed experiment by forcing those together that did not want to be. In the meantime they have discriminated against white people.

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jman-6
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:25pm
If I may quote the great philosopher Forrest Gump: “Stupid is as Stupid does!” Nuff said!

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redonred
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:16pm
The testing is harmful. I have twin boys who loved to learn till they had to be tested. Their teacher and myself know how well or not they are doing. This year (3rd grade) I have told them to just sit there and not bother anyone. If they feel like doing it fine but we will also be losing three days of learning thanks to this bull. Seventh grade is more like it. I don’t like it because it only helps with salary. I throw the tests away without even reading. By the way, my boys are really smart.

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- jman-6
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:21pm
  Yes sir we wont stand for accountability of any kind! With all do respect get a life your twins didn’t stop learning cuz they had to take a test, they stopped cuz they wanted to and you went along with it!
  
  Report this comment
- pissantno.10
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:38pm
  ya you are a big problem with whats wrong with this country right now . lets just face it, you are to stupid to help your own kidds
  
  Report this comment
- bdandsl
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 11:52pm
  It’s obvious in your home you are not the one in charge. You’re not doing your boys any favors.
  
  Report this comment
- welldoneson
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 4:08am
  redonred: I call BS. or troll.
  
  Report this comment
- angelcat
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 10:09am
  The message you are giving your twins is ” if you don’t like it, just don’t do it”. What happens when they have to take SATs or ACTs to enter college or tests some employers give to applicants or employee evaluations? They should be told to just do the best they can because life is full of all kinds of tests, things you hate to do and things that are stressful. We just have to learn to handle them as best we can. It gets easier with practice.
  
  Report this comment
Chromo200
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:06pm
After the standardized tests are gone by the way side, Ms. Lewis will want more pay for the people who are going to score the essay tests. And since some are going to make more than the rest of the Union Members, she’ll want equal pay for all. Or maybe there will no test or identify the ability of students. You know like little league .. no winner or losers .. ever one gets an A and a blue ribbon.

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- angelcat
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 10:52am
  I taught for 30 years and never felt threatened by the standardized tests given in 3rd and 5th grade. In our district, they were used as tools to help teachers see where they needed to step up their teaching and not used to evaluate the teacher unless scores were horrible consistently when the teacher did not have low ability students. State tests that were geared to the required curriculum were more important in evaluating teachers, and those tests measured quite well if basics were being taught. Information on student growth was provided, so even if a student’s score was low, but he showed a year’s growth the teacher was not discredited. I felt that was fair.
  
  Report this comment
Comrade_Bob
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:04pm
The State Religion teaches that after humans left Africa and were exposed to Seasons, evolution stopped. Reason leads us to understand that humans exposed to Seasonal environments either adapted to learn to build shelter, and develop agriculture, or died off. This explains why the brains of Europeans are heavier than the brains of Africans, and the 15 point difference in IQs.

Teachers in schools with black populations cling heavily to the State Religion. However, when faced with the choice between adherence to the State Religion or facing money penalties for not meeting Religious standardized testing targets, they always seem to go for the money.

The Truth is that schools segregated by the races would be best for all children. Whites and Asians could be academically challenged and rise to their level of ability, while blacks and Hispanics could be more closely supervised and have reduced problems of self-esteem issues.

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- spirited
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 10:56pm
  “The Truth is that schools segregated by the races would be best for all children.”
  
  >~~ Really ~> ?
  
  Report this comment
NO_MORE_OBAMA
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:02pm
Chicago showed how stupid it was when it voted 120% to 0 for Obama. The parents are stupid, the kids are stupid. The union thugs and teachers union are stupid.

Anyway we can get Canada to invade Ill?

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eyedoc5
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:58pm
HAHAHAHAHAHA that’s cuz they know the retards in this city can’t pass standardized tests and it makes the lazy awful liberal teachers here look as bad as they are.
Look at that fat cow’s picture! haha, nasty!

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Tired of Code Names
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:58pm
The real root to the problem here is that with the societal break down in culture, the teachers know they don’t have a chance, especially in the inner city. THAT is obviously politically incorrect, but, the statistics stand. You can’t teach someone who does not wish to be taught, and if the parents don’t enforce the child learning with some sort of discipline, the child will find a “discipline” from other factions of life. That is what they respect.

I know I am old school, but, when I was in Junior High back in the 70′s, technology was not all that great. BUT, they had a PA system that piped all sound from the vice principals office to the entire school when the vice principal chose to do so. And if you were sent to that office for a fight or doing something stupid, the switch would be flipped and the whole school got to listen to the conversation between the principal and the student. Then the principal would conclude the conversation by asking the student to get the paddle and bend over. Two swats later, the student was much more humble. In my house, the two swats were nothing compared to the response from my parents for embarressing them. No law suits filed against the school. Today, not so much. The teachers are being held responsible for something they can’t be responsible. Yes, there are good teachers and there are bad, but, the ultimate responsibility is the student. Until this country allows failure and the responsibility of the individual, we

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- spirited
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 10:59pm
  Amen to that.
  
  Report this comment
willost
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:57pm
Standardized tests are a joke, always have been always will be.
School staff prepare the student with material that will be on the test – this is a fact!!!
If you are truly concerned with fixing the public education system, there is but only one solution – immediately disband the Department of Education now!!!!!!
Empower local and state educators to fix the problem – I’m very confident we can do a much better job than the Gov’t.

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- CatB
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:09pm
  Amen .. put education back in the hands of LOCAL communities … throw the unions and Dept of Ed .. out.
  
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EQUALIZER
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:54pm
I didn’t know Chicago students coud read. Barry’s little community organizers failed.

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- Outlaw_Josey_Wales
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 11:08am
  I notice that Chicago students do their writing assignments with cans of spray paint.
  
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Zipit
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:52pm
Why bother! Science; The explosive properties of gunpowder! History; The mining of led and brass in the USA! P.E. Loading your 9mm! Math; How to call 911 when your sister gets shot! Civics; slavery, and why you should hate whitey! Political science; Vote fo keep Obama in the president! Learn all of this, and graduate with a 40! That would be a 40oz of Colt 45 Malt liquor, for all you crackers!!!!!

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Paulhgreenbay
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:52pm
Lol! One step closer to Idiocracy and a quality president like President Camacho.

President Camacho — S|-|it! I know s|-|it’s bad right now, with all that starving bulls|-|it, and the dust storms, and we are running out of french fries and burrito coverings. But I got a solution.

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Walkabout
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:47pm
Without standardized testing you will always be comparing apples to oranges.

Karen Lewis makes the case of home schooling & private schooling.

She also looks like she has a syndrome. I can’t help but think that after reading the story about the 26 year old Maryland man that was asphyxiated, when he got into a scuffle with LEO.

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The_Jerk
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:35pm
Look at the source fighting against standards. Standards out the incompetent, and can be used to fight Affirmative Action and all politically correct appointments. Objective criteria must be brought back into schools.

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- civilwarcometh
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:52pm
  There are no more standards in this country…Press release: clerks of the Supreme Court never forwarded to 5 out of 9 Justices one single page of pleadings, they also did not forward to any of the Justices the Supplemental Brief. Demand for investigation forwarded to Congressman Goodlatte, Chair of the Judiciary Committee of Congress. Can’t believe what is going on…
  
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- Jake Dog2
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 11:04pm
  WOW OMG
  I agree with The Jerk on this one. AAAHHHHHHH lol
  
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DefyTYRANNY
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:35pm
Yeah, who needs darn pesky standards anyway?

Welcome to the modern world.

Morals, standards, quality, in the rubbish bin. Too inconvenient to exist in the New Amerika.

There is an overwhelming need to s u c k equally.

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soybomb315_II
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:32pm
LOL

Chicago union to No Child Left Behind: No thank you

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- civilwarcometh
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:38pm
  It’s the Chicongo way..
  
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- The_Almighty_Creestof
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:30pm
  Just give them their choice of a “Perfect Attendence” or a “Participation” trophy and hand them their diploma.
  
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