“It’s about collective struggle”: Interview with Jesse Hagopian on education & the movement for Black Lives

As the one-year anniversary of a Seattle police officer pepper spraying me on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day approaches, I sat down with the Seattle Weekly reporter, Casey Jaywork, to discuss ongoing struggles for social justice. Here are my reflections on police brutality, the intersection of race and class, and disrupting the school-to-prison-pipeline. --- Teacher …

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We are opting our first grade son out of the MAP test—here’s our letter explaining why

The infamous MAP test is set to be administered in my son’s school this week. The MAP is a computerized test meant to measure students in math and reading. Seattle Public Schools initially required MAP kindergarten through high school, with multiple testing periods per year. In 2013, Garfield High School launched a boycott of the …

Continue reading We are opting our first grade son out of the MAP test—here’s our letter explaining why

Arne Duncan: Testocracy Tsar. Educational Alchemist. Corporate lackey.

2016 has begun with important news: We have endured the last days of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan roaming the halls of government, looking for teachers and students to intimidate.  Arne, "the nation's bully," no longer runs the schoolyard.  Educators and families around the country will remember him by many monikers, none of them sympathetic. …

Continue reading Arne Duncan: Testocracy Tsar. Educational Alchemist. Corporate lackey.