>> By Percy Ednalino
>> Denver Post Staff Writer
>> 
>> Jan. 27, 2001 - A middle-school teacher in Greeley
>> said Friday that he refuses to administer the Colorado
>> Student Assessment Program tests to his students
>> because they clash with his beliefs as an educator.
>> 
>> This is the first time a teacher has refused to
>> administer the tests, officials believe. State law
>> requires teachers to give the exams, a fact that
>> hasn't escaped Donald Perl, 58.
>> 
>> "I've anguished over this for a long time, and I
>> cannot administer these tests, knowing the population
>> here and seeing how discriminatory the test is," said
>> Perl, a Greeley resident who teaches eighth-grade
>> Spanish, reading and language arts at John Evans
>> Middle School.
>> 
>> Non-English-speaking students are at a disadvantage
>> because the tests are written in English, he said.
>> More than 40 percent of the Greeley School District's
>> student enrollment is Latino. A Spanish version is
>> offered only for third- and fourth-grade reading.
>> 
>> Perl also said the test cultivates competition instead
>> of cooperation and test-taking skills over "true
>> stimulation of our children's curiosity."
>> 
>> "It was all intuitive at first, you know?" he said. "I
>> started to talk to some people about it and ... the
>> more I looked, the more I read, the more I saw that
>> these high-stakes standardized tests violate my
>> egalitarian values of what the public school system is
>> supposed to be about."
>> 
>> Perl sent copies of a news release he issued Friday
>> about his intended boycott to district Superintendent
>> Anthony Pariso and each member of the State Board of
>> Education. Principal "shocked" As of Friday afternoon,
>> only Barbara Sheen, the principal of John Evans, had
>> responded to Perl's declaration.
>> 
>> "The principal was shocked," Perl said. Sheen did not
>> return phone calls to her office. Pariso was out of
>> town and unavailable for comment.
>> 
>> "We obviously need to get legal counsel at this point
>> and find out just exactly where we are with all this,"
>> said John Stewart, associate superintendent. "We're
>> not going to have many comments until after we have a
>> chance to visit with our legal counsel."
>> 
>> Deborah Fallin, director of public relations for the
>> Colorado Education Association, said any disciplinary
>> action against Perl would be taken at the district
>> level.
>> 
>> She said Perl would not be subject to criminal
>> prosecution, even though the state mandates
>> administering the tests, which are given from the
>> third through 10th grades in reading, writing, math
>> and science.
>> 
>> A teacher, like any other school employee, can be
>> dismissed for not performing his or her assigned
>> duties, Fallin said.
>> 
>> Fallin said that to her knowledge, this is the first
>> time anyone has refused to administer the test.
>> 
>> But Colorado Commissioner of Education Bill Moloney
>> said teachers have had concerns about the tests since
>> they were introduced five years ago.
>> 
>> Moloney said he's not worried that other teachers
>> could follow suit with Perl's boycott of the CSAPs.
>> 
>> "They know it's the law, and we know it's the law," he
>> said. "People have opinions about testing, and it's
>> perfectly natural. So far, there's been a remarkable
>> level of cooperation. We trust the local folks to look
>> after it, and I suspect that it'll take care of
>> itself.
>> 
>> "In any event, they can just get someone else to give
>> the test. Big deal."
>> 
>> Perl said he is prepared to face the consequences of
>> his refusal.
>> 
>> "You know what? I have to look at myself in the
>> mirror, and I know these tests are wrong," he said.
>> "Frankly, I'm not a teacher when I teach to a test
>> like this, when I administer a test like this. People
>> need to think about this: The role of a teacher is to
>> bring people to examine their own thoughts.
>> 
>> "If I have gotten some people to think about this,
>> then I have done my job as a teacher."
>> 
>> Perl was reluctant to discuss the possibility that he
>> could lose his job, along with the effects it would
>> have on his family, but he said "I figure when one
>> door closes, another one will open."