High-stakes tests tie teachers’ hands

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, January 11, 2007

Teachers have always had to struggle with the daunting task of balancing the demands of the system with the needs of individual students.

Successfully walking this fine line has sometimes been referred to as “creative maladjustment,” and is essentially the art of teaching. Rigid, high-stakes assessments like the WASL effectively cripple the ability of teachers to practice this art in the best interests of their students, especially the most needy and the non-traditional learners.

In his book, “The Big Picture,” Dennis Littky writes that “nobody is measuring whether schools are developing healthy human beings. Ask people what they want for their children, and they will answer that they want them to be happy, to show a love of learning, to be respectful, to be kind, to have real skills, to make a contribution to the world.”

Good teachers, in conjunction with families and community members, are able to produce these results when given the freedom and support to do whatever needs to be done. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.” Let’s not unnecessarily tie those hands we so desperately need!

Jim Strickland

Teacher, Marysville Junior High

Everett