My late sister was a member of a teacher’s union as well as a representative for the unit of school psychologists. After her death I was handling her estate so all the mail came to me, including the Union newsletter. As I perused it I noticed a story congratulating the Cranston Teacher’s Union for its successful effort in marshalling students to inform their parents to fight a proposed charter school. It seems that teachers told their charges that such a development would mean  a watering down of their public school education so they should ask their parents to defeat any measure to establish a charter academy in the city.

That article came to mind when the recent dust-up occurred over the PARCC testing which commenced earlier this month. I wondered how many teachers were lobbying students to have the parents opt out of testing. It is no secret that eventually success on standardized tests will be used as one factor in teacher evaluation. By hook or by crook the NEA and others do not want objective testing since they want to forestall teacher evaluations.

An answer to my musing arrived pretty shortly. A teacher in a public school went to several classrooms that were in session to “correct misinformation” about the withdrawal of federal funding if there was a widespread refusal to take the test. (It was reported that he apparently did not tell the students to have the parents withdraw them from the testing since he was only speaking to them about “facts”).

Because he was popular the students launched a protest over his suspension with pay (which lasted a nanosecond.) The student flap was an indictment of what passed for schooling as the students talked about his first amendment rights being violated. That, of course, misses the entire point. He should have been suspended for interrupting several classes already in session to make his view known. Why he was free all this time is also a mystery. In any event, students in RI have had a never-ending interruption of education from holidays, teacher days, and weather (and maybe even Good Friday). With such a dearth of education time, it’s not ok for a teacher to intrude into other classrooms for his soapbox pronouncements.

While there may be a few exceptions as to why testing hurts Johnny and Mary, the fact is there should be a measure to see what students know. US students are lagging far behind other developed countries in skills. Graduation rates are a disgrace. First year professors at colleges bemoan the growing need for remedial coursework. An academic yardstick to see what students know and how teaching should be adjusted in light of this data is an absolute must.

Yet despite a 5 year lead-up to the testing, teachers say they are not ready. Their leadership often cites incredible turmoil from their students. Where does that anxiety primarily come from?

One shibboleth is that test-taking detracts from necessary academic teaching. This might be a plausible argument if the students were outranking their counterparts for critical thinking, problem solving and clear writing, and based on a fear of losing academic leadership in the world. Such is not the case. With what money is poured into education, the educational system is flunking.

It’s far past time to engage in torpedoing student measurement and, in another sense, teacher achievement. Get on with the test.

Arlene Violet is an attorney and former RI attorney general.