Boycotting NCLB: In Effort To Protect Students Illinois District Will Refuse Test
Dist. 93 Against Giving Tests To Kids Still Learning English
A DuPage County school district could be the first in Illinois — and perhaps the nation — to refuse to administer mandatory state exams to students who haven’t yet mastered English.
The boycott by Carol Stream Elementary District 93 would be an act of civil disobedience against the state’s decision to force English learners to take the same tests as their fluent peers.
Nearly 10 percent of the district’s 4,300 students were categorized as having limited English skills in 2007.
The federal No Child Left Behind law requires that all public schools annually test all students in select grades.
District 93 officials say they’re willing to break the law this spring to shield students from the frustration and humiliation of taking an exam not designed for them.
“The board believes it’s appropriate to do that,” District 93 Superintendent Henry Gmitro said. “While there may be consequences for the adults in the organization, we shouldn’t ask kids to be tested on things they haven’t been taught.”
Illinois dropped the test that was designed for English learners this fall, after the U.S. Department of Education made a final ruling that the test wasn’t an adequate measure of state learning standards. The old test was written in simpler English.
As a stopgap measure, English learners will take standard assessments with some special accommodations, such as extended time and audio recordings, while Illinois develops a test that will meet federal guidelines.
Politicians and educators throughout Illinois have aggressively opposed the move, predicting it will cause districts to fail and face serious sanctions under the federal accountability law.
A group of Chicago parents plans to keep their children home during the March testing, while local school officials have petitioned state lawmakers for a one-year reprieve for English learners. And, some other superintendents say they also would consider a boycott.
But District 93 administrators are the first school employees to say publicly they will not administer the test to some students, Illinois State Board of Education spokesman Matthew Vanover said.
Indeed, the district could be the first in the nation to mount this type of challenge, though others have rejected federal money in order to opt out of the high-stakes tests.
A Wisconsin teacher made national news last year when he protested the emphasis the law places on standardized testing by refusing to administer the exams — for a single day. Threatened with termination, he proctored the exams the second day.
“The frustration is widespread, but this action is unique, to the best of my knowledge,” said Robert Schaeffer, public education director for the National Center for Fair and Open Testing.
Schaeffer said his group supports parents, students and educators who take such stands, but does not push them to do so because of the risks.
Vanover said he couldn’t speculate on what penalties the state might hand down.
“We would encourage them to move forward with the testing and give these students an opportunity to share what they have learned,” Vanover said. “And once those students have done that to best of their ability, the test should end.”
Though the law says the test must be administered, it doesn’t stipulate that students must finish the test.
U.S. Department of Education spokesman Chad Colby said a boycott could jeopardize the district’s federal funding. And, he said, it would undermine the law’s intent, which is to hold schools accountable for what students learn.
District 93 received about $631,000 from federal sources during the 2005-06 school year, slightly more than 1 percent of its total revenue.
Other suburban school officials said they would consider a boycott as they continue to weigh their options.
The Marquardt Elementary District 15 school board in Glendale Heights has authorized Superintendent Loren May to make the final decision on whether to administer the tests.
“There’s no clear pathway on what may or may not happen,” May said. “It’s about making a decision about what’s best for the children.”
© 2008 The Daily Herald
Good for the teachers. Hope nothing bad happens to them as a result of this, after all most armies don’t want recruits who can’t understand the orders their given.
I think the test should be boycotted, but based on other reasons. The test is designed and produced by a company owned by George Bush’s family. “No Child Left Behind” would be more aptly named “No Profit Left Behind.” First reason to boycot the test: the Bush family does not have the expertise or credentials to design educational material, nor do they have the sense to realize that culture-bound measures of intelligence are unreliable and invalid. Second reason to boycott the test: this is yet another example of a no bid contract that lines the pockets of George and Co.
This action is clearly politically and ideologically based, and its purpose is obviously a threat to the continuity of government.
Therefore all of the teachers involved should be detained and interviewed with all the enhanced techniques that are available to see what their real agenda is…
oops, that would be illegal, wouldn’t it? or is it OK now?
In the search for any semblance of an American spine, these educators and administrators need to be recognized for daring to do something for the right reasons. We all need to stand up to Daddy and show a little bit of healthy rebellion.
For these teachers and administrators, for the librarians against mining their records, for the town/city/village boards that call fo impeachment or arrest, and for all of the other little heros, keep it up and common sense will spread like a benevolent disease. Anything short of educating every child to their potential is short sighted, a dumbing down of the national intellect. That is probably the point of No Child’s Behind Left.
@skippy–I hope you were jokin’ about the armies and orders…after all, part of the reason NCLB is the mandate for military recruiters in schools included in the stupid law. “No child left unrecruited to kill of oil”
I’ve heard numerous teachers complain they no longer teach, but just do standardized test preparation. I also heard that in Texas they flunk the “dummies” out of school after 8th grade to avoid those embarrasing low scores. No child left behind, indeed!
Molly Ivins once described Texas as the “National Laboratory for Bad Government”. Every once in a while one of the botched experiments gets out.
I wonder if FDR would be required to ‘pass’ the P.E. test to graduate. How did H. Keller do on her reading test? Egad, how did we ever let intolerance infect American ideals?
Send this school district some love for their couragous action. Click on The Daily Harold (in blue) at the top of this article. It will take to the original article and the comments. I have signed up (currently waiting for my e-mail from them). This is important because any individual or group that stands up to this fascist regeme (sp)need to know that they are not alone. The one comment on the board right now is racist and hateful. So, go on over and let ‘em know what you think!
How NCLB subsidizes the wealthy….
vouchers(subsidies) are given to students to go to private schools.
Poor and middle class parents can’t afford time off/ a second vehicle/gas to drive children to and from private school, or room and board or extra tuition.
Public schools close due to low test scores because “all men are not created equal”
and Bush is our shining star of edumacated.
Rebel Farm - excellent call to support this district. Just made a post with the Daily Herald as well. Common dreamers keep it up!
More of you need to get out there and comment on this article at the source. It’s a hassle because you have to sign up and all that, but it’s worth it. You can’t believe how much hate and bigotry is out there. Speak up please for these folks that have stood with courage and conviction!
I tutor students in reading through a program that exists because of NCLB. I have seen only a very small sampling of students. From what I’ve seen, just supplying hearing aids and glasses for students would make a major difference. That also means having extra pairs of glasses on hand for those kids who are accident prone.
Thanks Rebel Farmer. I left my “knockout punch,” comment. I can hear the Duh’s now……
Thanks, Carol Stream Elementary for being the first is what I hope becomes a nationwide rebellion against a hopelessly complex, unfair, misguided and certainly mis-named federal law. More time, money, and effort has been spent on working through the problems of this act, responding to it, arguing about it, developing even more state tests to comply with it, etc., etc., etc. than we can possibly imagine and yet, no surprise, NOTHING has changed. In fact, public education is getting worse because teachers are now forced to TEACH THE TEST, which is surely the lowest common denominator, than to use their creativity and skill to empower each child to learn something worthwhile or even useful.
There are those, including the famed teacher and commentator on the inequalities of the public education system, Jonathon Kozol, who believe that NCLB is a thinly veiled attempt to discredit public schools and ultimately to destroy the public system. You need only listen to McCain start talking about vouchers as he has recently to understand that Kozol’s premise sounds frighteningly true.
We can’t afford to let the public system self-destruct or get lost in the even more irrelevant layers of bureaucracy that NCLB has provided, because it is truly the bedrock of our entire way of life. We do need to create change, but it comes in the guise of FLATTENING this very bureaucracy and providing a small, personalized, responsive, supportive school for every child in the country, all the way through high school, using the funds we are already spending. That means doing away with the culture of indoctrination that has been dragging the public schools down for decades, despite tons of research on school reform, and, instead, re-inventing the system itself so it meets the needs of today’s kids and today’s society. As a teacher and administrator at both school and district level on both sides of the country for 25 years, I know that I echo the feelings of millions of educators when I say that the entire system is crying for large-scale and equitable change!
Patricia Kokinos
www.changetheschools.com
Rebel and Doom: Also left my supportive note. The comments on the newspaper’s site is running about 50-50 right now. I hope more CDers write comments. We need to fertilize these small, bold steps with lots of support!!!