http://www.thesylvaherald.com/html/cvs_teacher_suspended_for_refu.htmlCVS teacher suspended for refusing to administer tests
By Lynn Hotaling
Doug Ward
A local teacher’s decision to “just say no” to administering state- and federally-mandated tests has led to his suspension.
Superintendent Sue Nations confirmed Tuesday that Cullowhee Valley School exceptional children’s teacher Doug Ward has been suspended with pay pending an investigation.
Nations declined further comment, other than to say the local school system must follow the rules when it comes to testing.
“Jackson County Schools are obligated to follow state directives and board directives,” Nations said.
Ward, who is in his third year of teaching, all at CVS, indicated Tuesday that he does not blame local school officials for suspending him for what he termed “insubordination and being a disruptive influence.”
In a letter sent to school system officials Monday, Ward describes himself as a “conscientious objector” and says he will not give his students with severe and profound disabilities the tests that are required under federal legislation passed in 2001 known as “No Child Left Behind.”
“It is dishonest for me as a teacher to give my students a test which they cannot pass,” Ward wrote. “This test is not a valid test as it does not provide an opportunity for students to show whether they have made progress during the school year or not.”
According to Ward, he is not protesting all required testing but only this year’s changes in the way lower-functioning students like those in his class are tested and evaluated.
“I’m not objecting to the idea of a test,” he said Tuesday. “I’m objecting to this test. It’s invalid, and it doesn’t test yearly progress.”
In a video posted on YouTube, Ward contends that tests developed under the state’s new NCEXTEND1 guidelines for evaluating students with severe and profound disabilities are aimed at the highest-functioning children in this group. In other words, it’s like expecting a child who functions at the cognitive level of a 1-year-old to pass a test designed for a child who functions at the level of a 4-year-old, he said.
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“By testing everybody at the highest level of severe disability, the kids at the lowest level would be sure to fail,” he said.
In addition, setting up the test that way means that more is expected of his students than of “normal” students, he said.
“They’re asking a teacher to develop that kid three years in a single year while they’re only asking for one year of progress for regular kids,” he said.
In the video, Ward also said federal officials complained that too many of the special education students were passing the test under the former portfolio-based system – that the results were skewed because they didn’t fall into a typical bell-shaped curve.
“They don’t want everyone to pass even though that’s the goal of No Child Left Behind,” Ward said. “Does that make any sense?”
He then answers his own question with an apparent dig at President Bush, who pushed through the NCLB legislation during his first year in office.
“The people coming up with No Child Left Behind were ‘left behind’ themselves as children, and daddy had to pay for them to get grades to pass,” he said in the video.
Ward says one goal of his protest is to generate media attention to help other teachers with students who can’t pass the new tests. As background, he points to Cullowhee Valley’s experience just before he arrived.
Exceptional children’s test scores typically come in after the others, he said. That particular year, the school was almost to the “adequate yearly progress” level – the ultimate goal of NCLB – and the ECP students’ scores were so good that they pushed the school over the top to achieve AYP, Ward said.
“Everyone was really happy about that,” he said.
This year he’s worried the opposite may be true.
“I have three kids who would be tested, and they won’t pass,” he said. “What if that lowers the school score?”
Should that happen, his students would be talked about and blamed, Ward said.
“If a school is barely over its AYP goal before NCEXTEND1 scores come in, and then the failing scores shift the school below AYP, this could lead to the special education teachers and students becoming the scapegoats. Many of these teachers will be without tenure and may receive negative repercussions including not having their contracts renewed for low test scores,” Ward writes in his letter to school officials. “This is an unfortunate reality due to school politics, special education subgroup scores and the incredible pressure on administrators for good test scores.”
According to Ward, some “good, young teachers” could be “run out of or run away from teaching because of having to give a test their students are guaranteed to fail.”
In addition, Ward says he sees the new test as one more way society discriminates against students like those he teaches.
“The feeling is we’ll test the kids and if they fail, that’s OK,” he said. “It’s symbolic of society’s feeling in general that these kids aren’t worth worrying about. It seems like the only place anyone wants these kids to be equal is in the area of testing.”
Making the decision to refuse to participate in testing was difficult because he knew it meant he’d be separated from his students, he said.
“The students are a concern,” he said. “But I have two wonderful assistants who are just as much teachers as I am. As much as it’s heartbreaking for me not to go in tomorrow, I know (my students) will be in good hands.”
Jackson County Schools testing coordinator Terry Hilton confirmed late Tuesday that the rules have changed this year for testing the state’s students with severe and profound disabilities.
With the advent of NCEXTEND1, testing for these students has become more standardized, she said.
In prior years exceptional students were evaluated under a portfolio-type system where progress was noted throughout the year and a student’s individual education plan was the basis for judging whether children had achieved proficiency. Portfolios were submitted to state officials for scoring, she said.
Under the new rules, exceptional students are tested during a one-month window. Each child with severe and profound disabilities is provided with a test booklet that includes manipulatives, and two assessors evaluate whether a child successfully completes a task. Each assessor – the child’s teacher and another qualified person familiar with the child – independently evaluates the child’s performance and separately enters scores into a computer. Results are then compared and scored at the state level, she said.
Ward described the Tuesday meeting that resulted in his suspension as “cordial” and said he’s not trying to drag Jackson County or Cullowhee Valley “through the mud.”
“I know (school officials) did what they had to do, and I had to do what I feel is right,” he said, adding that he was aware his decision is likely to have “probably severe consequences for me, including terminating of my current career and hampering my future.”
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