Every parent wants their child to grow up and receive a top notch education, and thanks to America’s public education system, that has been the case for many decades. But over the years, education reforms have turned our once well-rounded schools into giant testing centers. The focus in most school districts is on performance and test taking, instead of teacher-directed learning and the development of social skills. This past Friday, special education teacher in Florida, Wendy Bradshaw had enough and submitted her resignation.
Ms. Bradshaw isn’t just any teacher- she’s a seasoned and well-educated woman who went so far as to obtain her Doctorate degree in a field she is passionate about. She has first hand knowledge of the progression of education towards test-based learning, and she can’t bear to be a part of it any longer. When she welcomed her first child into the world this last year, Bradshaw couldn’t muster the excitement she thought she could have about bringing her daughter to school with her. The thought of putting her own daughter through the stress of incessant school testing only brought on a sense of foreboding. She knew she had to do something, so she resigned from her position with a resignation letter that has been shared over 40,000 times in less than a week and has gone viral, to say the least.
No one can say it better than Wendy Bradshaw, so we’ve included her articulate resignation letter before, so you can see for yourself what everyone has been talking about.
To: The School Board of Polk County, Florida
I love teaching. I love seeing my students’ eyes light up when they grasp a new concept and their bodies straighten with pride and satisfaction when they persevere and accomplish a personal goal. I love watching them practice being good citizens by working with their peers to puzzle out problems, negotiate roles, and share their experiences and understandings of the world. I wanted nothing more than to serve the students of this county, my home, by teaching students and preparing new teachers to teach students well. To this end, I obtained my undergraduate, masters, and doctoral degrees in the field of education. I spent countless hours after school and on weekends poring over research so that I would know and be able to implement the most appropriate and effective methods with my students and encourage their learning and positive attitudes towards learning. I spent countless hours in my classroom conferencing with families and other teachers, reviewing data I collected, and reflecting on my practice so that I could design and differentiate instruction that would best meet the needs of my students each year. I not only love teaching, I am excellent at it, even by the flawed metrics used up until this point. Every evaluation I received rated me as highly effective.
Like many other teachers across the nation, I have become more and more disturbed by the misguided reforms taking place which are robbing my students of a developmentally appropriate education. Developmentally appropriate practice is the bedrock upon which early childhood education best practices are based, and has decades of empirical support behind it. However, the new reforms not only disregard this research, they are actively forcing teachers to engage in practices which are not only ineffective but actively harmful to child development and the learning process. I am absolutely willing to back up these statements with literature from the research base, but I doubt it will be asked for. However, I must be honest. This letter is also deeply personal. I just cannot justify making students cry anymore. They cry with frustration as they are asked to attempt tasks well out of their zone of proximal development. They cry as their hands shake trying to use an antiquated computer mouse on a ten year old desktop computer which they have little experience with, as the computer lab is always closed for testing. Their shoulders slump with defeat as they are put in front of poorly written tests that they cannot read, but must attempt. Their eyes fill with tears as they hunt for letters they have only recently learned so that they can type in responses with little hands which are too small to span the keyboard.
The children don’t only cry. Some misbehave so that they will be the ‘bad kid’ not the ‘stupid kid’, or because their little bodies just can’t sit quietly anymore, or because they don’t know the social rules of school and there is no time to teach them. My master’s degree work focused on behavior disorders, so I can say with confidence that it is not the children who are disordered. The disorder is in the system which requires them to attempt curriculum and demonstrate behaviors far beyond what is appropriate for their age. The disorder is in the system which bars teachers from differentiating instruction meaningfully, which threatens disciplinary action if they decide their students need a five minute break from a difficult concept, or to extend a lesson which is exceptionally engaging. The disorder is in a system which has decided that students and teachers must be regimented to the minute and punished if they deviate. The disorder is in the system which values the scores on wildly inappropriate assessments more than teaching students in a meaningful and research based manner.
On June 8, 2015 my life changed when I gave birth to my daughter. I remember cradling her in the hospital bed on our first night together and thinking, “In five years you will be in kindergarten and will go to school with me.” That thought should have brought me joy, but instead it brought dread. I will not subject my child to this disordered system, and I can no longer in good conscience be a part of it myself. Please accept my resignation from Polk County Public Schools.
Best,
Wendy Bradshaw, Ph.D.
As if Ms. Bradshaw’s letter wasn’t enough by merely sparking a debate amongst parents on the status of our schools, President Obama released comments following the publication of her letter. His message addressed a desire to ensure test “obsession” isn’t running rampant in public schools provides at least some reassurance, but only time will tell if changes are made quick enough to impact our own children. Bradshaw isn’t planning on stopping her mission- next year she plans to head to Tallahassee, Florida to address her concerns in person with lawmakers. As a parent of a child who one day may attend public school, I can say I’m truly grateful that a teacher took such a courageous step to improve our education system. It only takes one person, and we hope Wendy Bradshaw is it!