1,2,3 What Are We fighting for

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There was a good article in Education Week on testing, accountablitiy, and civil rights groups support for testing. It pointed out that historically testing actually harms minority children more than it helps. (see link)

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/top_performers/2015/05/annual_accountability_testing_time_for_the_civil_rights_community_to_reconsider.html

Since we have been testing students for over a hundred years, and yearly for weeks at a time for the past 13 years shouldn't we see evidence for it's success? Testing is not equity! All data counts, but the data that counts most for teaching and learning is the very data Ed Reformers and some civil rights groups are ignoring. A couple of examples of the data that really matters:

Class size,

Wrap around services,

IEP Access to Special education and Literacy interventions services,

Access to daily PE, 

Access to daily Art,

Access to daily music,

And of course school libraries and librarians,
If we 
want to hold politicians accountable? 

Let us start by equalizing the playing field with the above.
There is the data that matters, and there is the data that really matters. For 13 years our policy makers have been focused on the data that doesn't matter. 

Walking to DC, 

Jesse

10 days out from my walk. 17 connecting the dot Walking Man events from CT to DC. It time to start thinking chants people.
Hey it's time to think of some chants(-:
1,2,3 What are we fighting for,
Our children,
1,2,3 What are we fighting for,
Our local schools,
1,2,3 what are we fighting for,
Our teachers,
Our stories, our history,
1,2,3 What are we fighting for,
Our communities, our schools.
1,2,3 What are we fighting for,
ART,
Music,
PE,
Play,
Recess,
What Are We fighting for?
Hope, equity, and our democracy.
Come on people, you know what I'm listening to on my walk in the rain today...It's country Joe at Woodstock vintage 1969

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwyS66rAk3M