More Than a Score
The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
"Jesse Hagopian brought a rare moment of truth to the corporate-dominated Education Nation show when he spoke on behalf of his colleagues at Garfield High in Seattle. He instantly became the voice and face of the movement to stop pointless and punitive high-stakes testing."—Diane Ravitch, author of Reign of Terror
In cities across the country, students are walking out, parents are opting their children out, and teachers are rallying against the abuses of high-stakes standardized testing.
These are the stories—in their own words—of some of those who are defying the corporate education reformers and fueling a national movement to reclaim public education.
Alongside the voices of students, parents, teachers, and grassroots education activists, the book features renowned education researchers and advocates, including Nancy Carrlson-Paige, Karen Lewis, and Monty Neill.
Jesse Hagopian teaches history and is the Black Student Union adviser at Garfield High School, the site of the historic boycott of the MAP test in 2013. He is an associate editor of Rethinking Schools, and winner of the 2013 "Secondary School Teacher of Year" award from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences. He is a contributing author to Education and Capitalism: Struggles for Learning and Liberation and 101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radicals Who Changed US History, and writes regularly for Truthout, Black Agenda Report, and the Seattle Times Op-Ed page.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The eagerly engaged voices assembled here present an action plan to combat the increase in high-stakes standardized testing currently plaguing K 12 education. Editor and Seattle teacher Hagopian, whose boycott of testing at Garfield High joined a wave of opt-out movements across the country, creates space for the voices of teachers, parents, and students in the ongoing debate about education reform and testing. Readily highlighting the drive to turn public education over to private companies, Hagopian and crew scathingly indict test preparation giant Pearson, the Chicago Public School System, the arrogance of the Texas State Legislature, and programs like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top; Education Secretary Arne Duncan also comes under fire for his support of repetitive standardized testing over more free-form education. But the focus is on doing rather than shouting, and each essay in this anthology is a blueprint for civic action. Cauldierre McKay, Aaron Regunberg, and Tim Shea offer a lively account of the audacious, well-orchestrated protest at the entrance of the Rhode Island Department of Education in Providence, where students put on zombie makeup and ultimately convinced the state to issue a three-year moratorium on standardized testing. Tension builds in parent Kristin Roberts's chronicle of the creative "play-in" protests in Chicago that helped end testing for kindergartners, and teacher Sarah Chambers's hard-hitting piece exposes the bullying tactics of the Chicago Public School System under Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The contributors build on Hagopian's optimism for the blooming of an "educational spring" and make this book exceptional.
