On Feb. 2, 18 Ballard High Schools made public their intent to join Garfield High School on the boycott on MAP testing. Ballard High School has already finished administering the test, so the boycott won't take effect until May, but the teachers wanted to show their support.

Sources say they expect more signees in the near future, once the petition makes its rounds. Below is the full text of the petition, minus signatures.

Ballard High School and MAP Testing

We, the undersigned educators are professionals who know how students learn and what they need from our daily experiences with them in the classroom and our years of expertise in education. We believe the MAP test is a waste of students’ classtime. We believe in real learning opportunities.

Assessments are helpful, but the MAP test is not connected to what we teach, is not connected to our standards and has little benefit to students or student learning. It provides little useful data and is not taken seriously by our students. The MAP test also consumes unsupportable labor, time, hardware, software, and financial resources.

At this time, we believe the test should end. We will no longer agree to support the test and we will no longer send our students to be tested. We join with our colleagues at numerous other Seattle Schools who refuse to the give the test, parents who are frustrated with the loss of learning time and students who dislike the test because the test assumes that all students learn the same way. We believe that education is a fundamental right of students and they deserve only the best.

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