Matt Johnston, an award-winning social studies teacher who has been at Frederick High School in Frederick County for 20 years, said recently he will resign if the PARCC tests remain in effect.
“As it stands now, if a student does not get a certain score on the PARCC exam, the following words will appear on their transcript when they graduate: Not college and career ready*. The new scarlet letter of education will begin next year,” he told the county’s board of education.
“I got into education to help kids grow and bring the world to their feet, not to rank them and disinclude them from that world based on the test du jour,” he said. “This particular method is wrong because it scapegoats kids and it punishes kids.”
As you can see in the above video, he went on to say:
“I am particularly disgusted by this policy because I was one of those kids. I was a kid who was different than the norm. I still am an adult who is different than the norm. I won the aforementioned awards because I am different from the norm. …
“This nation needs intellectual creativity and innovation, not homogeneity and group think. These tests are all about the status quo, in my view, the assumptions behind them are not pedagogically sound. They are bent upon ensuring that public education produces good little subordinate test takers. …
“This policy is wrong. I can’t even believe it is being considered in this county, much less enacted. And I need to say this now. If this policy is still in effect on the very last day, July 15, for teachers to resign, I will have to resign my position in Frederick County Public Schools — and I love it here.”
Powerful stuff.
UPDATE: *I asked Bill Reinhard, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Education, about the statement on the transcripts.
“Currently, there is nothing on anyone’s transcript regarding the PARCC English 10 and Algebra I exam. These are not currently graduation requirements. The State Board will address this in the future,” Reinhard said. “Misinformation about assessment is hardly a new thing. The state board has not discussed this as yet.”
And Baltimore County Public Schools spokesman Mychael Dickerson said: “We are not aware of anything remotely accurate about this. No it has not been ‘on the table’ for Team BCPS.”