August 18, 2004
Judith Billings: WEA puppet

Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Judith Billings, who is running to reclaim her old job, has picked up the expected endorsement of the Washington Education Association

"Her commonsense positions on testing and reform align with ours," WEA-PAC Chairman and WEA President Charles Hasse said of Billings.

Billings opposes using a single test such as the WASL to make high-stakes decisions about students and schools. She also opposes charter schools and has vowed to make school funding her top priority.

Let us translate that last bit into English:
Billings opposes using a single test such as the WASL to make high-stakes decisions about students and schools holding unionized school teachers accountable for delivering measurable results. She also opposes charter schools permitting parents to choose successful non-unionized schools for their children, and has vowed to make school funding her top priority to pour a lot more money into the WEA's coffers.
As the parent of a future Washington public school student, the last sort of person I want to be in charge of the state's public schools is a WEA sockpuppet like Judith Billings.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 18, 2004 01:05 PM
Comments

sounds like a puppet to me.....which begs the question, who isn't in those positions? haven't all positions which are "in charge" of anything become of puppet for some organization?

Posted by: dinesh on August 18, 2004 03:59 PM

Did Judith resign this position a few years back due to HIV? But had no idea how she contracted the disease?

Posted by: Nick on August 18, 2004 09:31 PM

Judith contracted HIV from artificial insemination. She did resign due to the disease, but her doctor has okayed her to run again. The WASL, which she opposes, treats all students as though they were the same. They are not. You can not sum up 10 years worth of learning through one single test. Not all students learn the same way, so no one test form is going to allow them to share what they know or are capable of. Speaking as a teacher, I can tell you the majority of educators oppose the WASL as well. It is not because we do not want to be held accountable. It is because it is not fair to the students. Sit in a fourth grade classroom around testing time. Students are in tears because of all this pressure associated with this one test. Teachers have to concentrate the whole year on teaching to the test instead of really improving student learning.

Posted by: Heather on August 30, 2004 09:20 AM

My 10 year old took the WASL last year, and was a wreck over it. She has always had a struggle with certain subjects, but the year 03-04 did show an improvement for her. During the WASL she became so stressed out that at test time she couldn't concentrate. She came home crying and claiming she was stupid and wouldn't be able to get a job. She's 10 years old for goodness sake! She shouldn't be so concerned with getting a job for another 6 years minimum. Now she thinks "what's the point of studying? I'm just stupid and the WASL proved it." It saddens my heart.

Posted by: Kari Wickstrom on September 2, 2004 06:08 AM
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