“A racist relic of the past.”
Those strong words, from State Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas (D-Chicago), sum up her opinion of standardized tests. But for now, the Illinois State Board of Education is mandating more tests, not fewer.
Pacione-Zayas, a former ISBE member, joined an Illinois Federation of Teachers news conference to oppose what the state board is doing now on testing.
A school board member from Mount Olive, in southern Illinois, said one of his own children has testing anxiety and believes the scores are meaningless. And IFT president Dan Montgomery praised ISBE superintendent Carmen Ayala but disagrees with the board’s approach.
An IFT executive promoted a coalition, Teach Not Test.