Welcome, supporters!
We would like to encourage you to read through our site and make a decision to join us. We hope you will not remain silent but will let your local school board and representatives know how you feel about NCLB and CSAP. If you are parents, we would like to encourage you to opt your child out of testing. It is legal and can be done (see below). This act may be the best way to inform education officials of your stance on the endless testing of our students.
If you wish to join our list serve, email dperl@myexcel.com
We are hoping to raise money by the sale of these bumper stickers. We plan to send them to you in lots of 10 and we would like $22 for them (to cover postage and handling and $2 a sticker).The sticker appears as above and is standard bumper sticker size. Please make checks payable to CSAP Resistance.
Please write to:
Laura Manuel5634 W.24th Street
Greeley, CO 80634
Don Perl
2424 22nd Avenue
Greeley, Colorado 80631
Our buttons look like the symbol on the right side of the bumper sticker. They are available from Carol below. We would appreciate it if you would also send a donation when ordering the buttons.
Carol Carminati
243 Antler Drive
Boulder, Colorado
80302
Advertising
At this time, we have signed a second contract with an advertising agency to promote our message via bus benches and Mall advertising. We are expecting to have numerous ads near schools in Denver advising people that they can opt out of taking the test. We are also going to have ads at the Southglen and Aurora Malls.
We are hoping to secure more contributions from parents, teachers, or other supporters in order to have more bus bench ads. We are also considering ads in less expensive print media (e.g. smaller newspapers). If you would like to help us with this mission, please send contributions to:
CSAP Resistance
2424 22nd Avenue,
Greeley, Colorado 80631. ___________________________________________________ We think we are worthy of support as many teachers feel betrayed by their professional organizations that are supposed to be supporting them as professionals. The following letter expresses this feeling well. Dear NCTE,
For many years, you were my professional organization, and I was proud to participate in the annual conventions.
But you betrayed me.
You sold your soul for a "seat at the table." You sold us out because "withholding expertise and comment from this effort would be inconsistent with NCTE's mission and could further isolate teachers from a process which might profoundly influence the conditions of teaching and learning" (Open Letter to NCTE Members). You pretend that you don't know what follows this "standards" or goal setting. Such pretense is specious at best, for this Duncan DOE is already accepting bids for the standardized tests.
Did you imagine that all of a sudden, Arne Duncan would throw out the absurd, research-denying multiple-choice "measures" and turn over the assessment to the teachers?
Did you imagine that Mr. Duncan would suddenly reverse his position that teacher jobs be tied to student scores, that he would suddenly trust us?
Did you imagine that what just happened in Central Falls was/is an aberration? In Central Falls, demographics make the story more complex and real: "According to the NECAP results (New England Common Assessment Program), of the Central Falls High School students who participated in the assessments, 22% were identified with Limited English proficiency with English as their second language compared to 3% for the state. Twenty-three percent had an IEP (individualized education plan designed for students with special needs) compared to the state average of 17% and 85% were classified as economically disadvantaged compared to the state average of 35%."
Did you imagine that we would forget the research that conclusively shows that poverty is the central problem with our schools? Did you think we wouldn't know that the United States has the highest rate of children in poverty of all industrialized nations in the world?
By sitting at this table, you have colluded with the very people whose motives are diametrically opposed to what education in a democracy must be. You have joined forces with the likes of the Business Roundtable and its cadre of corporations ready to steal fortunes from the pockets of taxpayers.
I said that you have sold us out, but the truth is far worse. For your precious seat at this poisoned table, you have traded the lives of our children, as if they were commodities on a stock exchange.
Shame.
Sincerely,
Cindy Lutenbacher
A former member of NCTE