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The evidence that 2014 was a year of growing resistance to high-stakes testing is overwhelming. Let's hope that 2015 brings an even larger wave of revolt. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
For too long so-called education reformers, mostly billionaires, politicians, and others with little or no background in teaching, have gotten away with using standardized testing to punish our nation's youth and educators. They have used these tests to deny students promotion or graduation, close schools, and fire teachers--all while deflecting attention away from the need to fund the services the would dramatically improve our schools.
The year 2014 marked the greatest year of revolt against high-stakes testing in U.S. history. Across the country, students are walking out, parents are opting their children out, and teachers are refusing to administer these detrimental exams--often taking great personal and professional risk to defy the corporate education reformers. The impact of this movement can be seen in the poll released in August 2014 by Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup, which found that 54 percent of the general public said standardized tests are not helpful-the rate for public school parents was even higher, at 68 percent. To gain a full appreciation of the size and scope of this mass rebellion, check out the "Testing Reform Victories Report" from Fair Test. To gain insight into to the motivations and strategies of the leaders in this movement, order the newly released book, More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High Stakes Testing.
Here then are my picks for the top ten most powerful acts of resistance to high-stakes, standardize testing in 2014, listed in chronological order. I hope to add your action to my list next year!
Top Ten Test-defiers 2014
1. Thousands of Students Protest Colorado Standardized Tests
In what was perhaps the largest student walkout against high-stakes testing in U.S. history, hundreds of high schools students in Colorado staged a mass walk out in November refusing to take their 12th grade social studies and science tests. Overall, more than 5,000 Colorado 12th graders refused to take the tests.
Karen Hendren and Nikki Jones teach first grade at Skelly Elementary School in Tulsa, Oklahoma and sent a beautiful letter home in November with their students explaining to the parents why they would be refusing to administer any of the standardized tests. This brave act met with immediate scorn from the school district and these teachers will need all of our support as they struggle for their students and their own jobs.
3. Lee County School Board Secedes from the Testocracy
Amidst the cheers of anti-testing activists, Florida's Lee County school board became the first district in the state to vote to opt out of all state-mandated testing--despite the fact that the state could implement sanctions for refusing to administer the tests. Ultimately those high-stakes frightened the school board into resuming the testing, however, the dramatic action changed the political landscape in Florida and prompted the State Education Commissioner to call for an "investigation" of standardized testing in Florida's public schools to increase transparency for parents about the use of assessments and standardized tests.
4. Washington State Superintendents Flunk Duncan and NCLB
Most school districts across Washington state were forced by Secretary Arne Duncan's selective enforcement of the No Child Left Behind Act to send letters to nearly all the parents in the state informing them that their child attended a failing school. On August 2014, 28 school superintendents from around the state authored a letter of their own, where they declared that their schools' successes are not reflected in these ratings and criticized No Child Left Behind.
5. Toxic Testing
In July, the thousands of educator delegates to the National Education Association's Representative Assembly voted to demand the resignation of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and launched "Toxic Testing" campaign that is raising awareness around the nation about the harmful effects of high-stakes testing.
6. The Undead Scare Legislators Into a 3-year Moratorium on High-stakes Testing
The Providence Student Union has been one of the most organized and creative student groups in the nation in opposition to high-stakes testing. These students' unrelenting efforts to expose the high-stakes testing sham--from staging a zombie march to show what the test do to your brain, to making the adults take the test and announcing their scores at a press conference--put enough pressure on the state legislature get them to vote in June for 3-year moratorium on use of high-stakes.
7. 60,000 parents opt out in New York
During the June testing season, New York State became the epicenter against high stakes testing as 60,000 parents refused to let their children be reduced to test scores and chose to opt out. One of the most prominent stories of opting out came from Castle Bridge Elementary in New York City where the test had to be canceled because over some 90% of children were opted out!
8. Arise Ye Over-tested Teachers: International High School boycotts the test
On May Day, international workers day, teachers at International High School, which serves English Language Learners, announced that they would refuse to administer a test that was culturally and linguistically inappropriate for their students. They defeated the test and were not reprimanded.
In April, three teachers at New York City's Earth School became the first teachers in the nation to publicly refuse to administer a Common Core standardized test. They penned a beautiful letter describing their decision and their vision for education.
In February, teachers at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy voted unanimously to refuse to administer the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT). The teachers were threatened with the revoking of their teaching certificates. However, because of the overwhelming solidarity of the parents, students, and community, they defeated the ISAT and were not reprimanded!
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
For too long so-called education reformers, mostly billionaires, politicians, and others with little or no background in teaching, have gotten away with using standardized testing to punish our nation's youth and educators. They have used these tests to deny students promotion or graduation, close schools, and fire teachers--all while deflecting attention away from the need to fund the services the would dramatically improve our schools.
The year 2014 marked the greatest year of revolt against high-stakes testing in U.S. history. Across the country, students are walking out, parents are opting their children out, and teachers are refusing to administer these detrimental exams--often taking great personal and professional risk to defy the corporate education reformers. The impact of this movement can be seen in the poll released in August 2014 by Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup, which found that 54 percent of the general public said standardized tests are not helpful-the rate for public school parents was even higher, at 68 percent. To gain a full appreciation of the size and scope of this mass rebellion, check out the "Testing Reform Victories Report" from Fair Test. To gain insight into to the motivations and strategies of the leaders in this movement, order the newly released book, More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High Stakes Testing.
Here then are my picks for the top ten most powerful acts of resistance to high-stakes, standardize testing in 2014, listed in chronological order. I hope to add your action to my list next year!
Top Ten Test-defiers 2014
1. Thousands of Students Protest Colorado Standardized Tests
In what was perhaps the largest student walkout against high-stakes testing in U.S. history, hundreds of high schools students in Colorado staged a mass walk out in November refusing to take their 12th grade social studies and science tests. Overall, more than 5,000 Colorado 12th graders refused to take the tests.
Karen Hendren and Nikki Jones teach first grade at Skelly Elementary School in Tulsa, Oklahoma and sent a beautiful letter home in November with their students explaining to the parents why they would be refusing to administer any of the standardized tests. This brave act met with immediate scorn from the school district and these teachers will need all of our support as they struggle for their students and their own jobs.
3. Lee County School Board Secedes from the Testocracy
Amidst the cheers of anti-testing activists, Florida's Lee County school board became the first district in the state to vote to opt out of all state-mandated testing--despite the fact that the state could implement sanctions for refusing to administer the tests. Ultimately those high-stakes frightened the school board into resuming the testing, however, the dramatic action changed the political landscape in Florida and prompted the State Education Commissioner to call for an "investigation" of standardized testing in Florida's public schools to increase transparency for parents about the use of assessments and standardized tests.
4. Washington State Superintendents Flunk Duncan and NCLB
Most school districts across Washington state were forced by Secretary Arne Duncan's selective enforcement of the No Child Left Behind Act to send letters to nearly all the parents in the state informing them that their child attended a failing school. On August 2014, 28 school superintendents from around the state authored a letter of their own, where they declared that their schools' successes are not reflected in these ratings and criticized No Child Left Behind.
5. Toxic Testing
In July, the thousands of educator delegates to the National Education Association's Representative Assembly voted to demand the resignation of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and launched "Toxic Testing" campaign that is raising awareness around the nation about the harmful effects of high-stakes testing.
6. The Undead Scare Legislators Into a 3-year Moratorium on High-stakes Testing
The Providence Student Union has been one of the most organized and creative student groups in the nation in opposition to high-stakes testing. These students' unrelenting efforts to expose the high-stakes testing sham--from staging a zombie march to show what the test do to your brain, to making the adults take the test and announcing their scores at a press conference--put enough pressure on the state legislature get them to vote in June for 3-year moratorium on use of high-stakes.
7. 60,000 parents opt out in New York
During the June testing season, New York State became the epicenter against high stakes testing as 60,000 parents refused to let their children be reduced to test scores and chose to opt out. One of the most prominent stories of opting out came from Castle Bridge Elementary in New York City where the test had to be canceled because over some 90% of children were opted out!
8. Arise Ye Over-tested Teachers: International High School boycotts the test
On May Day, international workers day, teachers at International High School, which serves English Language Learners, announced that they would refuse to administer a test that was culturally and linguistically inappropriate for their students. They defeated the test and were not reprimanded.
In April, three teachers at New York City's Earth School became the first teachers in the nation to publicly refuse to administer a Common Core standardized test. They penned a beautiful letter describing their decision and their vision for education.
In February, teachers at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy voted unanimously to refuse to administer the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT). The teachers were threatened with the revoking of their teaching certificates. However, because of the overwhelming solidarity of the parents, students, and community, they defeated the ISAT and were not reprimanded!
For too long so-called education reformers, mostly billionaires, politicians, and others with little or no background in teaching, have gotten away with using standardized testing to punish our nation's youth and educators. They have used these tests to deny students promotion or graduation, close schools, and fire teachers--all while deflecting attention away from the need to fund the services the would dramatically improve our schools.
The year 2014 marked the greatest year of revolt against high-stakes testing in U.S. history. Across the country, students are walking out, parents are opting their children out, and teachers are refusing to administer these detrimental exams--often taking great personal and professional risk to defy the corporate education reformers. The impact of this movement can be seen in the poll released in August 2014 by Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup, which found that 54 percent of the general public said standardized tests are not helpful-the rate for public school parents was even higher, at 68 percent. To gain a full appreciation of the size and scope of this mass rebellion, check out the "Testing Reform Victories Report" from Fair Test. To gain insight into to the motivations and strategies of the leaders in this movement, order the newly released book, More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High Stakes Testing.
Here then are my picks for the top ten most powerful acts of resistance to high-stakes, standardize testing in 2014, listed in chronological order. I hope to add your action to my list next year!
Top Ten Test-defiers 2014
1. Thousands of Students Protest Colorado Standardized Tests
In what was perhaps the largest student walkout against high-stakes testing in U.S. history, hundreds of high schools students in Colorado staged a mass walk out in November refusing to take their 12th grade social studies and science tests. Overall, more than 5,000 Colorado 12th graders refused to take the tests.
Karen Hendren and Nikki Jones teach first grade at Skelly Elementary School in Tulsa, Oklahoma and sent a beautiful letter home in November with their students explaining to the parents why they would be refusing to administer any of the standardized tests. This brave act met with immediate scorn from the school district and these teachers will need all of our support as they struggle for their students and their own jobs.
3. Lee County School Board Secedes from the Testocracy
Amidst the cheers of anti-testing activists, Florida's Lee County school board became the first district in the state to vote to opt out of all state-mandated testing--despite the fact that the state could implement sanctions for refusing to administer the tests. Ultimately those high-stakes frightened the school board into resuming the testing, however, the dramatic action changed the political landscape in Florida and prompted the State Education Commissioner to call for an "investigation" of standardized testing in Florida's public schools to increase transparency for parents about the use of assessments and standardized tests.
4. Washington State Superintendents Flunk Duncan and NCLB
Most school districts across Washington state were forced by Secretary Arne Duncan's selective enforcement of the No Child Left Behind Act to send letters to nearly all the parents in the state informing them that their child attended a failing school. On August 2014, 28 school superintendents from around the state authored a letter of their own, where they declared that their schools' successes are not reflected in these ratings and criticized No Child Left Behind.
5. Toxic Testing
In July, the thousands of educator delegates to the National Education Association's Representative Assembly voted to demand the resignation of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and launched "Toxic Testing" campaign that is raising awareness around the nation about the harmful effects of high-stakes testing.
6. The Undead Scare Legislators Into a 3-year Moratorium on High-stakes Testing
The Providence Student Union has been one of the most organized and creative student groups in the nation in opposition to high-stakes testing. These students' unrelenting efforts to expose the high-stakes testing sham--from staging a zombie march to show what the test do to your brain, to making the adults take the test and announcing their scores at a press conference--put enough pressure on the state legislature get them to vote in June for 3-year moratorium on use of high-stakes.
7. 60,000 parents opt out in New York
During the June testing season, New York State became the epicenter against high stakes testing as 60,000 parents refused to let their children be reduced to test scores and chose to opt out. One of the most prominent stories of opting out came from Castle Bridge Elementary in New York City where the test had to be canceled because over some 90% of children were opted out!
8. Arise Ye Over-tested Teachers: International High School boycotts the test
On May Day, international workers day, teachers at International High School, which serves English Language Learners, announced that they would refuse to administer a test that was culturally and linguistically inappropriate for their students. They defeated the test and were not reprimanded.
In April, three teachers at New York City's Earth School became the first teachers in the nation to publicly refuse to administer a Common Core standardized test. They penned a beautiful letter describing their decision and their vision for education.
In February, teachers at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy voted unanimously to refuse to administer the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT). The teachers were threatened with the revoking of their teaching certificates. However, because of the overwhelming solidarity of the parents, students, and community, they defeated the ISAT and were not reprimanded!
The Trump administration cut $1.3 billion in foreign assistance over the weekend—slashing lifesaving programs that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously said would be preserved.
The World Food Program (WFP) at the United Nations warned Monday that the Trump administration's new cuts to lifesaving U.S. foreign aid programs "could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation."
The programs had previously been protected from sweeping cuts made by the President Donald Trump-created Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE), led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio granting waivers for the funding after 83% of the US Agency for International Development's provisions had been slashed.
Rubio claimed in March that DOGE's weekslong purge of USAID was "officially ending"—only for the State Department and USAID to spend this past weekend cutting more nutrition, healthcare, education, and financial stability programs in at least 14 countries.
On Monday, it became clear that the administration was not actually finished slashing programs aimed at promoting nutrition, education, and financial stability around the world, after the and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) spent the weekend terminating aid programs, putting vulnerable people in some of the poorest nations on earth at risk of starvation or death.
The grassroots advocacy group Stand Up for Aid told Reuters that a total of $1.3 billion had been cut over the weekend, including $562 million for Afghanistan, $107 million for Yemen, $170 million for Somalia, $237 million for Syria, and $12 million for Gaza.
"Every remaining USAID award for Afghanistan was terminated," one source told Reuters.
The cuts targeted a $24 million grant for Afghanistan and a $17 million grant for Syria that were provided to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), a sexual and reproductive health aid agency. Both grants had previously been terminated by DOGE but then reinstated—before the State Department, which took control of all remaining USAID programs last month, decided to again pull back the funding.
The administration is also ending a program that sends Afghan girls overseas to study, which they are prohibited from doing under restrictions imposed by the Taliban government, and terminating $169.8 million for WFP food assistance and malnutrition support for babies and children in Somalia and $111 million in WFP assistance in Syria.
In Yemen, 19 million of the war-torn country's 35 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. According to a letter from USAID to an aid contractor in Yemen, the decision to end its contract was made by Jeremy Lewin, a DOGE operative now serving as an acting USAID assistant administrator.
"The decision to terminate this individual award is pursuant to a review and determination that the award is inconsistent with the administration's priorities," the letter read, according to Reuters.
Cindy McCain, executive director of the WFP, warned that the new cuts to the agency's emergency operations "will deepen hunger, fuel instability, and make the world far less safe."
U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted in a statement that the Trump administration had previously provided to Congress "continued assurances that lifesaving programs would be protected during the Trump administration's 'review' of foreign assistance."
Shaheen said she looked forward to speaking with Rubio about the "devastating consequences" the cuts would have around the world.
She added on social media that women and girls will be "disproportionately" impacted by the State Department's decision to gut foreign assistance.
"It will increase maternal deaths and increase poverty, eliminate support for family planning programs in developing countries, [and] cut off 50 million women from access to contraception," said the senator.
U.S. officials who are involved in humanitarian aid and spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters that in Afghanistan, the cuts could worsen economic stability and other conditions that have propelled people to join extremist groups like ISIS-K.
In Gaza, where Israel is again blocking humanitarian aid after breaking a brief cease-fire earlier this year, the cuts came days after the WFP warned it was distributing its final food packages to Palestinians.
All of the U.N. agency's bakeries in the besieged enclave are inoperable due to a lack of supplies, and the WFP said last week that it had enough provisions to make hot meals for another two weeks.
While the cease-fire "offered a short respite," said the heads of several U.N. agencies in a joint statement on Monday, "assertions that there is now enough food to feed all Palestinians in Gaza are far from the reality on the ground, and commodities are running extremely low."
"I did not sign up to write code that violates human rights," wrote one protester in an email to Microsoft executives.
The tech giant Microsoft has fired two software engineers who publicly protested the firm's ties to the Israeli military during an event celebrating the company's 50th anniversary celebration on Friday.
The protests come a few months after the publication of an investigation by The Associated Press which found that Israel's use of Microsoft and OpenAI technology "skyrocketed" following Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which prompted Israel's deadly campaign on the Gaza Strip. Multiple human rights groups have said Israel is guilty of committing genocide or "acts of genocide."
Specifically, the investigation found that artificial intelligence "models from Microsoft and OpenAI had been used as part of an Israeli military program to select bombing targets during the recent wars in Gaza and Lebanon."
According to the AP, on Friday, while Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman was giving a livestreamed talk at Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington, a software engineer based in Canada, Ibtihal Aboussad, walked up toward the stage and shouted, "You claim that you care about using AI for good but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military."
"Fifty-thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region," Aboussad said.
Suleyman was forced to pause the speech and responded by thanking Aboussad for her protest and saying, "I hear you."
Aboussad said that "all of Microsoft has blood on its hands," as she was being led out of the room. "How dare you celebrate when Microsoft is killing children," Aboussad yelled.
According to CNBC, Aboussad then sent an email to Suleyman and other Microsoft executives, including the company's CEO and president.
"I spoke up today because after learning that my org was powering the genocide of my people in Palestine, I saw no other moral choice," she wrote in her email, according to the outlet. "This is especially true when I've witnessed how Microsoft has tried to quell and suppress any dissent from my coworkers who tried to raise this issue."
"I did not sign up to write code that violates human rights," she also wrote.
According to a document reviewed by CNBC, Aboussad was fired Monday due to "just cause, willful misconduct, disobedience, or willful neglect of duty."
Another protester, Microsoft employee Vaniya Agrawal, interrupted a later session that featured Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and former CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Agrawal made similar statements to Aboussad, including referencing the death toll in Gaza, while being hurried toward the exit.
Both Agrawal and Aboussad are associated with No Azure for Apartheid, a group of Microsoft employees who denounce the firm's Azure contracts and partnerships with the Israeli military and government, according to The Verge. Azure is the company's cloud computing platform that offers AI services.
According to CNBC, Agrawal also sent an email to company executives afterward. "You may have seen me stand up earlier today to call out Satya during his speech at the Microsoft 50th anniversary," Agrawal wrote. "Over the past 1.5 years, I've grown more aware of Microsoft's growing role in the military-industrial complex."
Agrawal wrote that the tech company is "complicit" as a "digital weapons manufacturer that powers surveillance, apartheid, and genocide." She also said that "by working for this company, we are all complicit," according to CNBC.
Agrawal put in notice prior to her protest that April 11 would be her last day with Microsoft, but on Monday she learned that her termination would be effective immediately.
"We provide many avenues for all voices to be heard," Microsoft said in statement Friday, according to the AP. "Importantly, we ask that this be done in a way that does not cause a business disruption. If that happens, we ask participants to relocate. We are committed to ensuring our business practices uphold the highest standards."
Organizers at the BDS National Committee recently told Drop Site that it will make Microsoft a priority target to pressure the company to end its support for Israel's campaign, following reporting about the Israeli military's use of Microsoft's AI and cloud services.
"Privatized Medicare plans are denying patients the care they need, while defrauding the government of billions a year," said one advocacy group. "Donald Trump is giving them even more taxpayer money."
The federal agency now headed by former television host Mehmet Oz announced Monday that it is substantially boosting payments to privately run Medicare Advantage plans, a boon for an industry notorious for overcharging taxpayers and denying patients necessary care.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said it is jacking up payments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans by more than 5% for 2026—an increase of over $25 billion. That's more than double the increase proposed by the Biden administration.
Health insurance company stocks jumped in response to the news of the Trump administration's payment hike, with shares of UnitedHealth Group—the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans—rising more than 6% following the CMS statement.
Oz, whom the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed in a party-line vote last week, previously reported holding tens of millions of dollars worth of stock in companies with interests before CMS, including UnitedHealth.
Social Security Works, a progressive advocacy group that campaigns against Medicare Advantage,
said Monday that "privatized Medicare plans are denying patients the care they need, while defrauding the government of billions a year."
"Trump is giving them even more taxpayer money," the group wrote on social media. "Trump-Musk don't care about 'efficiency.' They care about stealing our money."
"Medicare Advantage is wasteful and inefficient relative to traditional Medicare and everyone knows it."
One industry analyst, Chris Meekins of the financial services firm Raymond James, told Axios that the payment boost for Medicare Advantage "leads one to believe that DOGE"—the Elon Musk-led advisory commission also known as the Department of Government Efficiency—"does not care about MA."
Healthcare writer Natalie Shure
called the payment increase a clear "illustration that this administration's goal is upward wealth distribution and the dismantling of public goods, not 'efficiency.'"
"Medicare Advantage is wasteful and inefficient relative to traditional Medicare," Shure added, "and everyone knows it."
The CMS announcement came weeks after Oz told Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) during his confirmation hearing that he is concerned about and prepared to "go after" Medicare Advantage upcoding, the practice of making patients appear sicker than they actually are to reap larger government payments.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the Trump administration did opt to "stick with a Biden administration policy change that limits certain billing practices that have boosted payments to Medicare Advantage insurers," despite industry objections to the policy.
But Oz's record, including his past support for a proposal dubbed "Medicare Advantage for All," has led watchdog groups to doubt that he intends to aggressively take on large-scale overpayments and fraud in the program. According to one estimate from 2023, Medicare Advantage plans are overcharging U.S. taxpayers by up to $140 billion a year.
Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, warned after his Senate confirmation that Oz will "seek to further privatize Medicare, increasing the risk that seniors will receive inferior care and further threatening the long-term health of the Medicare program."
"Dr. Oz is joining a team of snake oil salesmen and anti-science flunkies that have already shown disdain for the American people and their health," said Weissman.
In addition to Oz and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CMS, Trump appointed former Medicare Advantage lobbyist Don Dempsey as associate director for health at the Office of Management and Budget, another signal that the administration intends to be an ally to the MA industry.