| The second part of Issue #5 focuses on a students' right to fair and authentic testing. |
 CEJ (Coalition for Educational Justice) Protests High-Stakes Standardized Testing
On April 18th, members of CEJ and other students, teachers and parents held a demonstration at Washington High School to protest standardized testing. |
 Interview with Alex Caputo-Pearl
Alex Caputo-Pearl, a teacher at Crenshaw High School and a member of the CEJ Steering Committee, spoke to Teaching to Change LA about the effects of testing and what students, teachers and parents can do to protest standardized testing.
"What (standardized testing) often leads to, especially in schools that are most stigmatized by low scores, is teachers teaching to the test, which is also a narrowing of the curriculum."
Interviewed by Solange Castro Belcher
Santa Monica High School Students Interview Protesters
Santa Monica High students Sebastian Cantero and Angela Rívera conducted interviews with students, teachers and community members at the April 18th protest.
"...the kids that are learning a second language are at a disadvantage because most kids don't have a proficient enough level of English to even understand the test much let alone take the test."
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 What do L.A. teachers think about standardized testing? |
"Standardized testing? There is nothing standard about the students I teach. Each is different, and thinks and know differently. Standardized testing is a fallacy."
- Anonymous Teacher, L.A. County
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Click here to read more responses from a recent TCLA survey. |
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Sonia Hernández, President and CEO of Los Angeles Alliance for Student Achievement, Discusses the SAT-9 and Norm-Referenced Tests
"When the state board adopted the SAT 9, Harcourt told them you can’t use this to make high stakes decisions. The publishers told the state the limitations of the test and the state chose to act regardless of the information given."
Interviewed by Solange Castro Belcher
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Press Release: Benefits of High-Stakes Testing Programs Questioned
A Study from the Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA) & the Education Policy Studies Laboratory (EPSL) at Arizona State University concludes that standardized testing policy frequently "results in structural and institutional mechanisms that discriminate against all of America’s poor and many of America's minority students." |
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----- Special Feature in this Double Issue ------
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 In Solidarity with the DoubleTree Hotel Workers
In recent weeks, students and teachers in Santa Monica have begun to talk about the battle to unionize local hotel workers as a critical educational issue in their community. This battle pits workers interested in earning a living wage and decent benefits against the management at Santa Monica’s Doubletree Hotel. Workers have charged that management has routinely harassed the leaders of the organizing effort, creating an increasingly unsafe and insecure work environment. Students and teachers argue that many of the Doubletree workers are graduates of Santa Monica’s schools or parents of current students. Further, they point out that the Doubletree Hotel sits on land leased by the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District. In this special series for Teaching To Change LA, students and teachers raise their collective voices, calling upon the School District to stand in solidarity with the Doubletree workers.
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Click here for a list of contributors in this issue.
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