Chicago Teachers Union president claims standardized testing 'rooted in White supremacy'

CHICAGO (CITC) — The president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) earlier this month called standardized testing a “junk science rooted in White supremacy."

Stacy Davis Gates said in an Aug. 5 interview with the Chicago-based radio station WVON that the exams originate from the early-20th century eugenics movement, which centered around the belief that segregation and social exclusion would rid society of people thought to be inferior.

“The way in which, you know, we think about learning and think about achievement is really and truly based on testing, which at best is junk science rooted in White supremacy,” she said.

Davis Gates added that standardized testing has been used to further claims that Black students are inferior.

When people talk to me about testing alone, you know, I have to trouble the waters and challenge that because you can’t test Black children with an instrument that was born to prove their inferiority,” she said.

The teachers union president revealed in September she decided to send her son to a private school over a Chicago public high school, pointing to a lack of opportunities for Black students.

A 2023 report from the Illinois State Board of Education found that roughly 26% of Chicago Public Schools students met or exceeded their English language arts performance level, while only 17.5% did so for math. In February, though, a study by Harvard and Stanford researchers determined that the city’s students in grades 3-8 ranked third in reading growth among the 100 largest school districts from 2019 to 2023.

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The CTU has pushed Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to increase funding for the classrooms, claiming that doing so would protect progress made in the district.

When people talk about achievement as a classroom teacher, I know that it is not linear,” Davis Gates said.

Martinez has argued that he needs more money from the state. Davis Gates claimed in her interview that “society” doesn’t want to pay women their fair share.

“This society has never wanted to pay women its worth, and as you know, our union is 80% female," she said. "Educators are overwhelmingly female ... Society is saying women don’t deserve it. That’s consistent."

Have questions, concerns or tips? Send them to Ray at rjlewis@sbgtv.com.