State Superintendent Mark Johnson’s decision to award an $8.3 million K-3 reading assessment contract to Istation, even though selection committees ranked another vendor higher, is receiving national attention.
Noted educational policy analyst Diane Ravitch took Johnson — and Istation — to task Sunday on her blog, after the company threatened critics with legal action.
She also applauded Charlotte teacher Justin Parmenter for calling Johnson out on the controversial contract award.
Parmenter is one of the Istation critics who received “cease and desist” letters from an Istation attorney demanding that they stop making “false and misleading representations” about the company.
Here’s Ravitch’s short, but pointed post:
Under normal circumstances, when a teacher disagreed with the state education department’s decision to switch from one test to another, it would be called a difference of opinion. Under normal circumstances, when teachers called attention to the state chief’s decision to ignore the recommendations of his evaluation team and pick a different assessment, it would be treated as criticism and grounds for debate.
When NBCT teacher Justin Parmenter and two other teachers in North Carolina called out their state superintendent for disregarding the recommendation of his evaluation committee and for choosing a product they rejected, the corporation owning the winning product threatened legal action to silence the teachers.
The superintendent in this instance is Mark Johnson, ex-TFA. His classroom experience was limited to two years. His failure to defend his state’s teachers reveals his character.
Shame on the owners of iStation.
Shame on Mark Johnson.
Ravitch’s post was written two days after parents, educational advocates and others held a news conference to demand state education officials delay implementation of the controversial Istation K-3 reading assessment tool for one year.
They also asked Attorney General Josh Stein and State Auditor Beth Wood to investigate Superintendent Mark Johnson’s decision to award the contract to Istation after selection committees ranked Amplify’s mCLASS assessment above Istation.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.
