Badass Teachers Association

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The Badass Teachers Association (BAT or BATs) is an education and social justice activist organization that challenges what it describes as corporate-driven education reform efforts and advocates for social justice.

Contents

History

The Badass Teachers Association (BAT) is an American education activist organization. BAT was founded on June 14, 2013 by Priscilla Sanstead and Mark D. Naison. [1] [2] Mark Naison left BAT in April 2014.

The BAT mission statement says that the organization was created to give voice to every teacher who refuses to be blamed for the failure of society to erase poverty and inequality through education. [3] According to BAT, its members refuse to accept assessments, tests and evaluations created and imposed by so-called corporate-driven entities that have contempt for authentic teaching and learning. The BAT goals are to reduce or eliminate the use of high-stakes testing, increase teacher autonomy in the classroom and work to include teacher and family voices in legislative decision-making processes that affect students. BAT teachers engage in organized group actions such as phone calls, emails, or letter writing. As Sanstead claimed, "vexed teachers raising their hands quietly was not working. [4] "

BAT has a closed Facebook page with over 56,000 members, a Twitter feed with over 23,000 followers, a website, a blog, Facebook groups in every state, International Facebook groups for teachers, and special interest Facebook groups where members can go and "chat" about their special areas of expertise in education. [5]

BAT began as a Facebook group, but its current purpose is to organize education activism around the nation. BAT members present on panels at conferences, write op-eds that appear in local, national, and state news outlets, and organize protests/events. [6]

BAT has held two summer events to protest US Department of Education policies, and held a Teachers Congress in 2015. [7]

Some commentators have stated that BAT is "left leaning" organization in its political messaging. [8] [9]

Activity

Policy Work

In 2014/2015 The Badass Teachers Association teamed up with the American Federation of Teachers to conduct a Quality of Work Life Survey in order to study teacher working conditions. The Survey which had over 80 questions was completed by 30,000 teachers. The results found that 1 in 5 educators feel respected by government officials or the media. 14% strongly agree with the statement that they trust their administrator or supervision. 75% say they do not have enough staff to get the work done. 78% say they are often physically and emotionally exhausted at the end of the day. 87% say the demands of their job are at least sometimes interfere with their family life. [26] As a result of this survey Senator Cory Booker and Senator Michael Bennet created the Booker-Bennet Amendment which was added to the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Act called for a comprehensive study of teacher workplace stress and working conditions. It would require that Title II funds be used to conduct and publicly report on educator workplace conditions. [27]

In the summer of 2015 The Badass Teachers Association conducted a "Lobby Day" in which over 60 appointments were made in Washington D.C. by BATs from over 25 states to speak with federal lawmakers about education policy and education decision making. At the event it was reported that BATs from New York, Washington State, Oregon, and Virginia occupied Senator Bernie Sanders office until his staff agreed to talk with organizers of the association about education policy. Sen. Sanders education liaison in Washington D.C. subsequently called BATs Executive Director Marla Kilfoyle to talk about education policy and procedures. [28]

The Badass Teachers Association created a caucus in the National Education Association (NEA) in 2014 which grew to over 200 members by 2015. [29] They also created a caucus in the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in 2016. [30]

Ongoing Efforts

The Badass Teachers Association submitted an Amicus Brief in the case of Friedrichs vs. CTA in November 2015. BATs continue to appear frequently on radio stations and podcasts such as the Education Town Hall, Just Let Me Teach Radio, The Jeff Santos Show, and The Rick Smith Show. [31] [32] [33] [34]

Criticism

The group has been known to remove people from its Facebook group for challenging its message. It has removed members who disagreed with its leadership on certain issues and deleted messages that it found "inappropriate". It also purged students from the group. [35]

Some critics have questioned the allegiances that the group has made with the Tea Party and related groups, [36] as part of their shared opposition to issues like the Common Core State Standards Initiative. [37] The organization defines itself solely as a "left leaning" organization. [38] [9]

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References

  1. ↑ Cody, Anthony (21 June 2013). "Badass Teachers Association Shows a New Spirit of Defiance". Education Week. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  2. ↑ Walsh, Kevin (January 29, 2014). "Public Education Going the Way of Netscape Navigator? Common Core, Bill Gates and BATs". Huffington Post. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Badass Teachers Association". badassteacher.org.
  4. ↑ Downey, Maureen. "They're mad and they're bad. America's teachers raise the volume and the roof". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "The Badass Teachers Association".
  6. ↑ "Fair Test" (PDF).
  7. ↑ "Education Town Hall - We Act Radio". 26 June 2015.
  8. ↑ McGrory, Kathleen. "Tampa Bay Times".
  9. 1 2 Velderman, Ben. "EAG News".
  10. ↑ "Assembly Minority ConferenceNassau County Education Forum". YouTube .
  11. ↑ Strauss, Valerie. "Washington Post - The Answer Sheet".
  12. ↑ Cody, Anthony; Du Fresne, Susan. "Living in Dialogue".
  13. ↑ Strauss, Valerie. "Washington Post - The Answer Sheet".
  14. ↑ Higgins, John. "The Seattle Times".
  15. ↑ "Popular Resistance".
  16. ↑ Parr, Jack. "CNN".
  17. ↑ "Badass Teachers Association Responds to Time Cover". Time .
  18. ↑ "Ethnic Studies Now".
  19. ↑ Spears, Andy. "Tennessee Education Report".
  20. ↑ "Sky Valley Chronicle". Archived from the original on 2015-01-18.
  21. ↑ Solochek, Jeffrey. "Tampa Bay Times". Archived from the original on February 7, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Fox News". Archived from the original on June 27, 2015.
  23. ↑ Sparling, Hannah; Thompson, Chrissie. "Cincinnati.com".
  24. ↑ Strauss, Valerie. "Washington Post - The Answer Sheet".
  25. ↑ "Call to Educational Justice".
  26. ↑ "The American Federation of Teachers" (PDF).
  27. ↑ "The American Federation of Teachers".
  28. ↑ Kamenetz, Anna. "NPR".
  29. ↑ "The National Education Association".
  30. ↑ Association, BadassTeacher. "Badass Teachers Association" . Retrieved 2018-02-18.
  31. ↑ "Education Town Hall - We Act Radio".
  32. ↑ "Just Let Me Teach - Indiana Talks Radio". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  33. ↑ "The Jeff Santos Show". Archived from the original on 2015-10-23.
  34. ↑ "The Rick Smith Show". Archived from the original on 2015-09-06.
  35. ↑ Nielsen, Lisa (5 September 2013). "From BadAss to Batty. Activist teachers lose progressive focus". The Innovative Educator. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  36. ↑ Simon, Stephanie. "For right, Common Core fight prelude to bigger agenda". Politico. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  37. ↑ D, Jane. "In Deep Guano: Booted from the Badass Teachers Association". Left in Alabama. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  38. ↑ McGrory, Kathleen (August 25, 2013). "A new challenge for Common Core — from the left". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
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