RCPress Interview: Why ‘Opting Out’ of High Stakes Testing is the Only Way to Save Public Education

Hello Raging Chicken Press readers and members!

Welcome to our fourth edition of our newest series.  Today, I had the pleasure of interviewing public school teacher and “opt out” proponent Tim Slekar.  Tim blogs at”At the Chalkface” and is a member with “Occupy the DOE.”  To fight the neo-liberal, education profiteering takeover, Tim is active in spreading the word about “opting out,” or flat out refusing, to have your children take standardized testing.  In recent weeks, high stakes testing in Pennsylvania became a touchy subject when parent and English professor Kathy Newman took out an op-ed explaining why her child won’t be taking the PSSA’s.  Her op-ed  drew harsh criticism from Tom Corbett loyalist, and a journalist who used to have standards, Dennis Roddy.

Also mentioned in the interview is what is beginning to unfold with Michelle Rhee, who covered up cheating during the 2008 election when John McCain and Barrack Obama praised her as an “education reformer.”

To help support and sustain this type of reporting, you can become a Raging Chicken Press member for as little as $5 a month.  Your contributions to our site will go a long way bringing progressive issues to your computer screen.

Enjoy

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About Sean Kitchen 681 Articles
Contributor and Assistant Editor for the Raging Chicken Press. Stationed in Harrisburg covering politics in the capitol. You can send tips to sean@rcpress.org or reach me on twitter at @RCPress_Sean!
Contact: Twitter

1 Comment on RCPress Interview: Why ‘Opting Out’ of High Stakes Testing is the Only Way to Save Public Education

  1. As realistic as saying 100% of students will run the 100 yard dash in 10 seconds. Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. The tests are designed for schools to fail, then privatization (corporatization) will save the day! Right! That’s the formula set up by the corporate takeover crowd……

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