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Brave, But Not Crazy: A Lesson in Teacher Activism and the Power of the State over Curriculum

By Justin Bathon

By now, you are probably aware of the David Wasserman story our of Madison, WI. In protest over the state mandated testing required by the No Child Left Behind Act, David chose to protest the administration of the test. He sat in the teachers' lounge while a colleague was in the classroom giving the test. This triggered a reprimand from the school and a threat of losing his job if he again failed to give the test. The next day, he did administer the test in an effort to keep his job. Here is local TV coverage of the incident (press play).

There are a couple of lessons we can take away from this incident.

1. The power of the state over local curriculum is absolute. If a state legislature chooses to mandate standardized testing, there will be standardized testing, whether or not the personnel administering the test agree. This is the same for all curricular matters. If the state does not mandate specific curriculum requirements, then it falls to the Board of Education to make curricular decisions. These decisions rarely, if ever, fall to teachers. The most that teachers can hope to influence is the manner of delivery of the state and board of education mandated curriculum. Certainly teachers can sit on planning committees and make recommendations to the board of education, but they cannot unilaterally decide to change the curriculum or fail to implement it. Thus, the action of this teacher in Wisconsin amounted to insubordination, an offense for which he could rightfully be fired.

2. In the end, he was not fired (at least it does not appear he will be) and he is still earning his $45,000 + health insurance.  But, he drew national attention to the fact that some teachers' are so upset with the No Child Left Behind testing provisions that they are willing to violate school rules. Given that NCLB is up for reauthorization and on the mind of presidential candidates, it was an especially potent statement. David Hoff at Education Week noted how much traction this story was getting and David Wasserman has quickly become beloved in the blogosphere. And just the other day, I saw Newsweek did a Q&A of this jeans and beads wearing guy (probably didn't hurt he taught in Madison - might have bought him that day whereas he might have been fired immediately in other districts). The point is that teachers can still have a voice in educational policy. Most of the time I recommend working within the system to make your voice is heard, but occasionally a teacher can even work outside the system to get a point across. Just remember, however, that in today's post Garcetti world, working outside the system and making public comments or engaging in public actions in opposition to a school's official position is increasingly dangerous to your continuing employment. 

Full post as published by Edjurist on November 06, 2007 (boomark / email).