Diana Zavala’s son is in fourth grade in New York. She says she got involved in the movement after she saw a startling change in her son’s attitude. “He was a child who loved school, who was curious and eager to learn and experiment and I noticed he was coming home worn down, stressed and unmotivated,” she said. “I also noticed he was interacting with his sister in a multiple-choice style of way offering her choices with letters attached to the questions. He talked about reading levels and not loving books. He talked about being a number three or four and cared about competing with his classmates rather than collaborating with them in a group activity.” Zavala is now a member of Change The Stakes and The Movement Of Rank-and-File Educators (MORE), both are strive to move the system away from testing and more to educating. When she first got involved, parents saw what she was doing as “an anomaly, a reaction to my son’s emotions. They thought that there could be potential harm in doing what I was doing: pulling out of testing,” she said. “I think parents no longer feel this way.” ..
While an educator, Diana is not currently teacher. She is active as a parent leader in Change the Stakes and a member of MORE, though she is not eligible to run in the elections. MORE has parent members.New York Parents: My Kid’s Not Taking Another Standardized Test!
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