While corporate education reformers prattle on about a need for more high-stakes testing to evaluate “learning loss,” what students truly require is the redirection of the billions of dollars wasted on the testing-industrial complex toward supporting educators and students: to gain access to COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, and vaccinations, as well as psychologists, nurses, social workers, trauma counselors, after-school programs, restorative justice coordinators, and more.
My friend Gillian Russom teaches high school in the L.A. public schools. She is also a union activist in the United Teachers of Los Angeles, a fierce advocate for social justice, and an outspoken opponent of high stakes testing. Gillian recently wrote this short post about the out-of-control testing happening at her school and I …
Continue reading More Teaching, Less Testing!
Recently I flew to New York City for film project called, "8 Powerful Voices for Public Education." Below is the address I delivered to make the case for teaching skills that will empower students to challenge oppression and solve societal problems--not just prepare them for the next mind-numbing standardized test. #TeachWhatMatters. Pass it on. https://youtu.be/eXBHmpHLPZ8 …
Continue reading Teach What Matters
By Jesse Hagopian, originally published at The Progressive Magazine As we enter the high-stakes testing season, a great uprising to opt out of these punitive and reductive exams is sweeping the country. So it’s no surprise that corporate education reformers--attempting to defend the multibillion dollar testing industry--have been launching aggressive attacks on the movement. One …
Continue reading Off the Deep End: The Swim Test vs. The Standardized Test
I recently gave this talk titled, "More Than a Score," for the TEDx Rainer event at Seattle's McCaw Hall theater. In this talk I advocate for the great uprising against reducing our children to a test score and I make an argument to opt in to authentic assessments--not only because it will better engage students, …
I AM AN EDUCATOR 
You must be logged in to post a comment.