


I am attempting to go through the numerous writings on my various websites and hard drives. I will post the ones that are readable. They will be posted with backdates representing the approximate time of their writing. Most will be in draft format. The decision to post them or not will be based on the idea behind their writing, not the quality of their writing. All is tentative.
We, the undersigned, believe that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) should stop using standardized test scores to override all other considerations in making student grade promotion decisions.
Wade Tillett,
Jason Michael Lukasik,
Kristine Mayle,
Bill Ayers,
James J. Cavallero,
Kate Coit,
craig coit,
Anne Elizabeth Moore,
Kristin D. Jones,
Karen Lewis,
Therese Quinn,
Daniel Tucker,
Chris Esposito,
Virginia Anderson,
Matea,
Amina Chaudhri,
Anne Tillett,
Jen Johnson,
Liz Brown,
Margaret A. Byrne,
Neelam Jumma,
Jill Wohl,
Brian Schultz,
Sharon Schmidt
For an overview and opt-out letter, please see: bubbleflyer2 (.pdf)
Press release: Bubbles Alert
People: Bubble Stories
Statements:
Julie Woestehoff: Schools tapped by Obama family reject national testing mania
Jim and Sue Gill: Who opted their children out of a bubble test in Oak Park School District 97.
Join Parents Across America. If you are a Chicago teacher, join the CORE testing task force.
Bring your passion and ideas. Become a part of the mailing list (join at http://groups.google.com/group/bubbleover, or email wade@bubbleover.net and ask to be added).
Share your stories on the share page.
Or get a group going where you are.
The basic problem with bubble tests is this: it turns each, unique human being into a number. That number is then put together with other numbers and then various things are done to those numbers. And eventually those things done to numbers come back to effect the living, loving, breathing human being, but without any thought as to any of the important parts of who that person is.
In a nutshell, here”s the problem of education: a mentality that strips a human being into his or her bureaucratic essence – a multi-digit number that will fit neatly into the database. And after that, the brutality is abstract. Except, of course, to the actual experience of the person branded with a number, by virtue of a few bubbles s/he filled in.
The high-stakes test bubble has burst. It’s time for bubble tests to be over. Instead, education must bubble over with the strengths, interests, and personality of each student. Learning must bubble over with life.
We’re located in the midwest, but this is a national and international movement.