More Than a Score

by Jesse Hagopian

  Never had I done anything too “radical” before in front of the board. Rarely had any student representative, especially during a student rep report at a televised board meeting, done so either. Not only did I confront the board about one of their recent antiunion acts but I also publicly encouraged the community to opt out of OAKS testing. This board report went viral as did the Portland Student Union’s article about the opt-out campaign.

  January 29, the Portland Student Union website had more than a thousand views. And within eight hours a thousand became two thousand. Then I received an email from Diane Ravitch that read, “I am posting this early tomorrow morning. Will reach at least 50,000 people across the nation.” We were slowly finding out that this action had massive support from around the country.

  January 30, Ravitch posted about us on her blog with the headline “Good News! Students in Portland, Oregon, Are Speaking Out.” On that very day we learned of the Providence Student Union’s campaign against their high-stakes, standardized New England Common Assessment Program, or NECAP, exam. Now we knew were not alone and this display of student power gave us a surge of energy to continue our struggle. Now we were rolling. On January 31, we got our first interview request from the Oregonian. On February 2, the Oregonian published a story of our movement on the front of the Metro section of the paper. On February 4, we sent out a press release further detailing our demands for a high-quality public education. On February 5 we presented the campaign in more detail to superintendent Carole Smith, who, of course, did not openly support us but understood our frustrations. That same day, representatives from our unions gave four interviews, one with Democracy Now! and three with local news stations. On February 6 we had a press conference at the Portland Public School District headquarters.

  The press conference was very successful. Juniors who were opting out spoke about why they were opposed to the OAKS testing. Susan Barrett also spoke, as well as recently elected school board member and Oregon SOS organizer Steve Buel. Additionally, a few students’ parents spoke about why they supported their child’s decision to opt out. Finally, Lincoln’s Black Student Union submitted a statement about why they supported the campaign, as high-stakes standardized testing contributes to inequality. The experience of all these groups working toward a common cause was truly exhilarating and gave us hope that we had begun the process of reclaiming public education for students, teachers, and parents.

  The power of our coalition was quickly validated when, about a week later, the PBA president McDonough and two of her employees agreed to meet with the PPS Student Union. This was absolutely one of the worst, least productive meetings of my life. We opened up the conversation by thanking them for their support on past PPS bonds and levies, and then made clear that we opposed their stance on Race to the Top. Immediately an argument broke out. They were upset with the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) benefits that were going to teachers, and they were very supportive of high-stakes standardized testing. Little did they know I had just spoken out against the proposed PERS cuts and we were leading an opt-out campaign that opposed exactly what they were pushing for.

  We tried to reason with the PBA. We pointed to education systems like Finland’s that are regarded the world over as highly successful. We explained that Finland’s success was the result of an approach to education that values the whole student, provides wraparound services for their students (and general populace), and does not include a single high-stakes standardized test in the entire K–12 system. Ms. McDonough responded with curt condescension: “Have you ever been to Finland?” So there it was; all our points were invalid. We walked out of that meeting shocked and confused, but with a greater understanding of the fight we were taking on: you cannot just reason with business interests and the profit motive, you have to build a base of power to challenge them.

  Our next action: a walkout on March 14 in solidarity with the Colorado Student Power Alliance (COSPA) walkout happening that same day. In Colorado, the students would be walking out and then traveling to their state capitol building to demand action surrounding high-stakes standardized testing. We would replicate this. Jefferson High School was testing that week, and Jefferson had talked previously about an action that would unite their school’s struggle with the other schools from around the district. The plan was to bring PPS Student Union and Portland Student Union members from around the city to Jefferson High School to greet students as they walked out. We would then travel to Salem, Oregon, to speak with our representatives about high-stakes standardized testing. Representative Lew Frederick, a Democrat from District 43, had created House Bill 2664 that, if passed, would require the Oregon Department of Education to call into question the role standardized testing should play in public education. His House bill did not have teeth behind it, and therefore would require the community to keep an eye on the department of education to make sure that testing was truly being scrutinized. We decided to speak in support of the bill and planned to be there later to ensure the department of education would be held accountable.

  Restarting our movement in the spring hinged on the students of Jefferson, one of the most exceptional schools in Portland. In the last ten years the Jefferson High School cluster has had more school closings than all the other PPS clusters combined. It is the only majority African-American high school in Oregon and 76 percent of its students receive free or reduced lunch. It has a 35 percent graduation rate, the lowest of PPS’s “traditional” high schools. OAKS tests have a huge impact on this low graduation rate, as a passing score is required to graduate and this has resulted in spiking numbers of students being denied a diploma. Moreover, as a direct result of the federal education policies of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (RttT), Jefferson has been labeled a “Focus and Priority School,” which results in an extreme emphasis on measures like OAKS testing—and less attention to art, music, and other programs that enrich education. As a result, these students have a lot to fight for. Yet the Jefferson High School students decided against participating in the walkout after being pulled into the principal’s office and being told that the negative label the school already had would be perpetuated if students walked out on the test. This left us with the dilemma of having a walkout we had already called for but no school to anchor it. In the rush to switch locations and go on with the show, the Portland Student Union began to break down.

  Students argued over who would take on hosting the walkout. It was concluded that it would be Grant High School. However, controversy erupted as the Grant Student Union did not want to take responsibility for it. In hindsight we should have called it off, regrouped, and developed longer-range plans to build on our successes. But we didn’t, which led to low turnout on the day of the walkout and many students being rightfully upset by the process.

  Many of our more involved students quit the Portland Student Union after this event. Sometimes I despair that it was my fault for pushing to have a walkout that did not have enough support. Other times I think people simply took this frustrating time period as an opportunity to back away from the group and enjoy other aspects of their lives. At least no one can say that we made the grave error of remaining silent about our own education. Whatever mistakes I and other leaders may have made, the Portland Student Union continues and undoubtedly will regain its strength as more students are impacted by the test-and-punish policy.

  Because the PPS Student Union was not as involved with these actions, it was not split apart by the bitter debates that surfaced during the walkout. However, the financial support we received from the school district was disappearing. Student trips to Salem that were easily funded by PPS in the past suddenly could not be organized. Our adult adviser, who once spoke in support of the opt-out campaign, began to aggressively insert her pro-OAKS opinion to stall organizing. When I reached out to her to find a way to work together, she refused to meet or to return my phone calls and emails. Yet Andrea would send out emails to all the students, the board, a
nd the superintendent about how I was “a child” and how there was “some type of relationship established with [me] and a few PAT members” and how we had an “agenda.” My principal told me that she had heard rumors around PPS that I did not actually listen to students’ voices, and that I was racist.

  This hostile environment made it difficult for the PPS Student Union to proceed with the campaign. It showed that Portland Public Schools only cared for student voices when it benefitted them. The second we opposed their agenda we were belittled and financially cut off, and our opinions were dismissed.

  We did our best to not let this faze us. The PPS Student Union continued on its quest for high-quality assessment. Students stepped up and financed sending five students to Seattle for spring break in late March to visit Garfield High School and talk with Garfield students about their experience with the MAP boycott. We sent students to Salem, Oregon, to lobby for a higher education budget and in support of House Bill 2664—three times throughout February and March. We were able to achieve a lot without the support from Portland Public Schools, although the open attacks from PPS left students feeling hopeless, divided, and frustrated to the point that some decided to leave our organization.

  By the spring, the most stable Portland Student Union branch was the Cleveland Student Union. Cleveland High School’s OAKS testing had yet to come and chatter of a walkout was increasing on the Facebook walls of student activists. We set the date for April 18 at 10:30 a.m. for Cleveland High School students to walk out on being reduced to a score and walk in to the movement for a student-centered education. When Cleveland’s administration found out about our plans for a walkout, they mobilized. First they threatened to prevent students who walked out from running for student government. Then they sent notes home to parents about the importance of taking the OAKS tests. Students who turned in opt-out forms were denied their right to opt out. However, students simply refused to test in numbers so large that their administration was overwhelmed and did not take any further action.

  Fliers were passed out, banners were made, and a PA system was set up outside the school. On the planned date and time about seventy Cleveland High School students walked out of their front doors chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, standardized testing has got to go!” and carrying banners that read, “I Am a Student, Not a Test Score” and “Education Is Not a Commodity.” After two students gave speeches, they took to the streets and lapped the school, chanting. It was absolutely amazing.

  If there’s one thing I’ve learned from our student organizing, it’s that organizations do not necessarily care that a student voice is authentic as long as it can be used to further their own agendas. From Stand for Children, Students Matter, and StudentsFirst to Portland Public Schools, the list of organizations influencing and implementing policies in public education goes on and on. These groups are happy to claim that their standardized tests, their contract proposals, and their agendas of privatization and union destruction are what’s best for students. They’re happy to put students’ faces on their materials and to have students volunteer for them. In the case of Portland Public Schools, PPS was more than happy to provide food, transportation, and adult advisers as long as PPS could exploit students to support their agenda.

  However, the minute students begin to question the authenticity of such organizations, we are met with withdrawal of financial support, dismissal of our opinions, and complete disrespect. By simply asking for the teachers union’s opinion, or proposing that students and teachers should not be evaluated based on how well students can pick A, B, C, or D gave PPS permission to leave us behind.

  Our year ended there, but the battle continues. The PPS Student Union continues under the name “PPS Student Association,” and the students are rewriting district policy to ensure the PPS Student Association officially exists under board policy. Andrea Wade, our adult adviser, was moved to a different department in PPS and has been replaced by PPS’s political consultant Jon Isaacs. I’ve heard that whenever the actions taken by the PPS Student Union in 2012–13 are brought up, Jon Isaacs changes the conversation. From what I can tell, PPS was successfully able to rein in those students. The Portland Student Union remains in its rebuilding phase. It ran an incredible PAT Solidarity Campaign in the 2013–14 school year during the contract negotiations between PPS and PAT. From walkouts to mic checks the students proved stronger than ever.

  poems

  High School Training Grounds

  Malcolm London

  He who owns the youth, gains the future.

  —Adolf Hitler

  At 7:45 a.m.

  I open the doors to a building dedicated to building

  Yet only breaks me down

  I march down hallways

  Cleaned up after me every day by regular janitors

  But I never have the decency to honor their names

  Lockers left open like teenage boys’ mouths

  When girls wear clothes that cover their insecurities but show everything else

  Masculinity mimicked by men who grew up without fathers

  Classrooms overpacked like bookbags

  Teachers paid less than what it cost them to be here

  Oceans of adolescents come here to receive lessons

  But never learn to swim

  Part like the Red Sea when the bell rings

  This is a training ground

  My high school is Chicago

  Diverse and segregated on purpose

  Social lines are barbed wire

  Hierarchy burned into our separated classrooms

  Free to sit anywhere but reduced to divided lunch tables

  Labels like “regular” and “honors” resonate

  Education misinforms, we are uniformed

  Taught to capitalize letters at a young age

  Taught now that capitalism raises you

  But you have to step on someone else

  To get there,

  This is a training ground

  Sought to sort out the regulars from the honors

  A recurring cycle

  Built to recycle the trash of this system

  I am in “honors” classes

  But go home with “regular” students

  Who are soldiers in a war zone in territory that owns them

  When did students become expendable?

  CPS is a training ground

  Centered on personal success

  CPS is a training ground

  Concentration on professional suits

  CPS is a training ground

  One group is taught to lead and the other is made to follow

  No wonder so many of my people spit bars because the truth is hard to swallow

  The need of degrees has left so many of my people frozen

  I had a 1.9 GPA

  I got drunk before my ACT and still received a 25

  Now tell me how I am supposed to act?

  Homework is stressful

  But when you go home every day and your home is work

  You don’t want to pick up any assignments

  Reading textbooks is stressful

  But reading doesn’t matter when you feel your story is already written

  Either dead or getting booked

  Taking tests is stressful

  But bubbling in a Scantron doesn’t stop bullets from bursting

  Our direction hasn’t changed

  When our board of education is driven by lawyers and businessmen

  One teacher sits on our boards

  Now what does that teach you?

  We all know the drill

  I hear that education systems are failing

  But I believe they are succeeding at doing what they’re built to do

  To train you

  To keep you on track

  To track down an American dream that fails so many of us all

  Multiple Choice

  Malcolm London

  There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions
as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.

  —Denis Waitley

  every morning in the third grade

  I stood to pledge allegiance to a flag dangling in the front of my class.

  I had not learned yet how crushed windpipes hanging

  in the same fashion

  were pendants of freedom, too.

  before freedom was a choice to cross the street alone,

  eat candy for breakfast or not bathe . . .

  before I knew Santa Claus was a black woman

  scraping together her last to see a smile sled

  across her son’s face on a winter morning,

  i’ve assumed every problem must have a multiple-choice solution

  every year since the third grade my future has been led

  by the tip of a number two pencil shading in

  alphabetized answers on a Scantron

  to determine what class i might end up in,

  by inhaling test-prep booklets lower, upper or middle

  since the third grade I’ve inhaled test-prep booklets

  commanding me to “concentrate,”

  “be patient, careful, to choose the correct solution”

  or “eliminate answers you know are wrong”

  and since the third grade it seems Chicago has choked

  on all of the above

  except the process of elimination.

  when a board of ed ignores the voice of the throat it plans to close

  it shows we are number two

  pencils shaven to fill in

  applications for Walmart, or boxes of prisons, or row houses

  or apartments pushed outside the city,

  flushed out, we are number two

  to boards of education who are better at plumbing than their namesake