In his five-year fight against what he calls “stupid standardized tests,” George Schmidt has had to face one formidable foe after another, including Mayor Daley. To that list he must now add another–federal judge Richard Posner, who ruled on December 31 that the Board of Education had the right to punish Schmidt for publishing a standardized test the board had given to high school students.
First given in the 1997-’98 school year, the CASE was unpopular with many teachers, who thought too much of their class time–over a month a year–was already devoted to preparing for standardized tests, among them required state and national achievement exams. The teachers contended that many questions on the CASE were poorly written, illogical, and misleading, making it a waste of taxpayers’ money.
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In January 1999 Schmidt used Substance to publish parts of the English, social studies, and mathematics sections of the test that had been given to students earlier that month. As he explained it, “The time has come to debate the educational integrity of the claims of the Vallas administration–and you can’t have a legitimate debate about a test without allowing people to see the test they’re debating.”
That March, Schmidt was also fired from his teaching job at Bowen High School. He says that in the five years since, he’s been in a “legal hell–a Chicago version of Bleak House.” He and his wife have had to borrow or raise nearly $300,000 for legal fees.
So in December, Schmidt found himself in front of a three-judge panel from the federal Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit–Posner, Frank Easterbrook, and Ilana Rovner. From the start it was clear that Posner was the key judge in the matter, because he was asking the most forceful questions.
Posner goes on, “So where to draw the line?” How much could Schmidt have published without harming the board? “The question cannot be answered precisely,” Posner writes. Nevertheless, he concludes, Schmidt did cross a line.
Schmidt claims Posner’s ruling shows bias. “He turned me into an adjective and took a gratuitous swipe at teachers–it reads like an editorial from the National Review,” he says. “I don’t know where he got that bit about me being out to destroy standardized tests–I’ve never said that. I think standardized tests have a place in the classroom. I just don’t like stupid ones, and I believe people have a right to see what tests are being given to their children.”
