[PEN-L:2725] CHECK THIS OUT: Test Drama in Chicago

[Michael Eisenscher <meisenscher@xxxxxxx>]

Dear Friends:

I am forwarding this report of an unparalleled attack on teachers in Chicago
in the hope that you will circulate it is widely as possible. Substance
maintains the highest ethical and educational standards.

Dave Stratman
********
Subj:         Test drama in Chicago
Date:   1/30/99 1:47:52 PM Eastern Standard Time
From:   BBPDX@xxxxxxx (Bill Bigelow.)
Sender: ARN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Assessment Reform Network Mailing List)
Reply-to:       ARN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Assessment Reform Network Mailing List)
To:     ARN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dear ARN colleagues,

An extraordinary drama is playing out in Chicago.  The January-February issue
of Substance, a monthly paper written by Chicago teachers, began publishing
the entire text of all the "pilot" Chicago Academic Standards Examinations.
In an accompanying article, editor George Schmidt wrote that, "We are
publishing these here because the time has come to debate the educational
integrity of the claims of the [public schools CEO, Paul] Vallas
administration."  For example, the social studies tests published in Substance
are a grab-bag of multiple choice questions that reduce complicated social
processes to grossly simplified single sentence or even single-word answers.
And, as Schmidt points out in accompanying commentary, many of these are
simply wrong.  In order to successfully prepare students for these tests,
teachers would need to lead their classes on a memory-packing excursion
through the most conventional textbooks they could locate.  Other sections of
the Chicago tests are similarly problematic, and deserving of spirited debate.

I wrote Substance a letter congratulating them on their courage in forcing a
public conversation by publishing the tests.  I received the letter below this
morning.  It seems to me that what's going on in Chicago needs to be
publicized far and wide.  Substance can be reached at csubstance@xxxxxxxx
Phone is 773-725-7502.

Bill Bigelow
Portland, OR

January 30, 1999

Dear Bill,

Thanks for your letter. This will help get stuff out.

The flap here was much greater than could have been anticipated. After our
publication of the CASE tests (distribution of Substance began with the
mailing to our 1,100 subscribers January 20), the public outrage about the
content of the tests grew. By the weekend, it was increasing as people got to
see the actual content of the tests their children had taken the previous
week.

On Tuesday, January 26, the Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees (the
current legal name for our school board) went to federal court and sued
Substance and me for $1 million. At an ex parte hearing (their expensive
outside law firm apparently claimed to the judge that they couldn't locate me,
despite the fact that I had been teaching at Bowen High School, where I work,
all day) held between 3:30 and 4:15 that day, the board got U.S. District
Judge Charles Norgle to issue a temporary restraining order barring us from
further distribution of the January-February Substance (which contained 17
pages -- out of a total of 44 pages -- of the CASE tests). The judge also
granted the school board the right to seize all outstanding copies of
Substance. That meant that federal marshalls could be dispatched to seize
Substance and all copies of the "stolen" tests. The school board alleged
copyright violations and the theft of "trade secrets." It turned out that they
had not registered the tests' copyrights until the day they took us to court.

In their "memorandum of law in support of plaintiff's motion for temporary
restraining order and for a writ of seizure", the Chicago school board stated
as follows:

"In this case, though, the effect of the defendants' [i.e., Substance]
infringements could have long-lasting effects on children in the Chicago
Public Schools. The Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees, headed by
Superintendent Paul G. Vallas, have been working since their appointments to
improve the educational accountability of the Chicago Public Schools. They
have spent millions of dollars and hours to create an assessment tool -- the
1998 Chicago Academic Standards Examinations -- to show not only how high
school students of 1999 meet certain acfademic standards, but also how high
school students in the fiture will meet Illinois' academic standards.

"Defendants, Publisher, George N. Schmidt and, upon information and belief,
Teacher-Publishers have, in one willful and self-serving act, destroyed what
Trustee has tried so hard to accomplish. The only reasonable means of
repairing that destruction is for this Court to order retrieval of every
single copy of the Newspaper, along with any other communication devices that
the Teachers Publishers have used to disseminate the 1998 examination
booklets. The Newspaper and other materials already disseminated must be
confiscated, even if it takes the U.S. Marshals going to every Chicago Public
School teacher's home. The unahthorized copies must be destroyed." (Memorandum
submitted in support of Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees vs Substance,
Inc, et al, January 26, 1999, before Judge Charlge Norgle, United States
District Court, Northern District Illinois, Eastern Division).

I don't think I can emphasize how important it now is for the story of this
flap to get out widely. It's ironic that your Oregonian article mentions the
Palmer raids. [I had sent Substance an article that I had written, "Social
Studies Tests from Hell," about the wretched new Oregon assessments that we're
confronting here.]  Considering that for three days this week, the Chicago
Public Schools administration had received federal permission to raid
teachers' homes indicates the type of problem we're facing.

On Friday, because we were able to afford an expensive legal counter attack,
we suceeded in getting the judge to lift the TRO. He told the plaintiffs,
however, that the issue can still be litigated, and that the school board has
the right to continue against Substance and me for compensatory and punative
damages. Additionally, the mayor and school officials have announced (with the
support of the city's two major downtown daily newspapers) that they want me
fired. I expect that the school board will move to try and fire me next week
for this action, despite my nearly 30 years of superior service in the
classrooms of this city.

Needless to say, the week has been very busy. All of our staff are teachers,
so we're usually in classrooms while others go around and do thing to us. I
took off three days from work on personal business, two to go over details
with our lawyers and one (Friday) to be in federal court when the TRO came up
for a hearing.

We are moving quickly to gather support from people both locally and
nationally. We will be needing expert witnesses and similar things.

Please forward this letter to concenred friends from around the country. This
story is breaking as I write this letter, and I do not expect the pressure to
be off myself and our staff anytime soon.

All support will be appreciated. Our legal costs are already heading towards
five figures. This can be sustained by a large number of concerned teachers.
Please don't ask why the ACLU and other establishment "progressive" thingies
aren't helping us, because if you haven't done a power analysis of America
1999 before now, I don't have time to go back over that trail.

Another important thing is messages of support. Morale is key, and when you
wake up (as I did Thursday) to find that the Chicago Tribune is demanding that
you be fired from your teaching job and that the Chicago Sun-Times is
demanding that you be pilloried (but not fired, I think), it's a bit stressful
-- especially if you and your newspaper have just been sued for $1 million.

Can we prevail? Of course. But we can't let one another down, and we've got to
organize continuously, staying in touch everywhere.

I hope that by next week, as many people nationwide will know about Chicago's
"Vallas Raids" on teachers homes with your help, since I'll be quite busy
here.