Pat Barcas/staff photographer
The Chicago Teacher Union held a rally March 10 at its Bridgeport office in Chicago, where about 100 members and supporters turned out to put the microscope on Chicago Public Schools testing methods — especially the ISAT

By Pat Barcas
Staff writer
Thursday March 13, 2014
Email Pat Barcas at pat@foxvalleylabornews.com

CHICAGO — On the surface, the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) is just another high stakes standardized test that wastes time and money, but Chicago Teachers Union members say it’s much more discriminative than that, effectively paving the “schools to prisons” road and singling out youth for failure before they ever get a chance to succeed.

The Chicago Teacher Union held a rally March 10 at its Bridgeport office in Chicago, where about 100 members and supporters turned out to put the microscope on Chicago Public Schools testing methods.

They say the state-mandated ISAT testing, which started in early March, does not count for student achievement or growth, does not give timely data to inform instruction, will not be used to measure teacher performance, and will not affect school funding and performance levels, but the test will take away from valuable time that could be used teaching. They are asking for Chicago Public Schools officials not to retaliate against teachers who have refused to administer the test to their students.

Pat Barcas/staff photographer
Members of the Chicago Teachers Union, parents and supporters took to the streets March 10 to bring awareness to Chicago Public Schools’ testing methods. Several teachers opted not to give the ISAT because it wastes valuable teaching time.

Anne Carlson is a teacher from Drummond Elementary in Chicago who chose to not administer the test to her students. She said she had to hide out in the school’s library and read to her students in the time slot allotted for the test, and joined others at the rally in asking for no retaliation from Chicago Public Schools for her actions.

She said she’s specifically taking a stand against the ISAT, which she calls a “corpse of a test” because it’s a way to hold minority students down. She spoke passionately at the rally, and said her job is to educate her students, something the ISAT does not allow her to do.

“Standardized tests rarely improve learning. They sort and they rank children into first and second class citizens and this is not right.

“No child should be treated as second class, and these tests are still used in a way where people are profiting off of our children,” she said.

“It’s another piece of this new Jim Crowe and it’s a link in the chain in the school-to-prison pipeline,” Carlson explained.

Chicago Public Schools previously threatened boycotting teachers with de-certification if they did not administer the test, and issued a statement March 10 saying officials were talking to the Illinois State Board of Education about appropriate disciplinary action against the teachers.

Around 45 teachers participated in the boycott, mainly from Saucedo Elementary School in the Little Village neighborhood. The test is mandated for all students grades 3 to 8.

Carlson said she was encouraged by her boycott when parent support letters starting coming to her office.

“When the opt out letters started flooding in, I felt vindicated. Within the first day, we had two-thirds of our students not sitting for the exam. At this point in time we have 73 percent of our students not taking the ISAT,” she said.

Saucedo’s third grade bilingual teacher Sandra Posadas said she decided to boycott because the ISAT takes valuable time away from instruction.

“My students are already over-tested. It does not measure how brilliant or articulate they are. It sets them up for failure and only marks their limited English comprehension,” said Posadas.

“I’m taking that time back, I am teaching in the classroom, I’m in a holding cell but I am teaching. When was it a crime to want to teach? Let me impart knowledge. Don’t penalize me or my co-workers for wanting to teach,” Posadas said.