Published: April 30, 2008

Teachers, Testing, & Civil Disobedience

Educators in the Teacher Leaders Network spent quite a few hours this past week sharing thoughts about Seattle teacher Carl Chew’s refusal to administer the Washington Assessment of Student Learning . Chew, a second-career middle school science teacher, was suspended for two weeks without pay. Chew told the Associated Press that “he has seen kids struggle through the test with few positive results to show for the time and effort expended over two weeks each spring.” Here are some excerpts from the TLN conversation.

In the daily TLN discussion group, a Virginia teacher asked:

Are there any implications for us in the Carl Chew story? Has the realm of possible action expanded for teacher leaders? Or are we all too tempered through our leadership work...