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The article recounts the educational advocacy that was behind the 2013 teacher-led boycott of the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) achievement tests at the Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington. Topics include the protests of teachers Jesse Hagopian and Mallory Clarke, the teachers' development of an alternative assessment system for students' annual academic progress, and teachers' collaboration with parents through the boycott.

The author discusses opposition to the mandatory "Measures of Academic Progress" standardized tests at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington, arguing that the students who have protested the exams are supporting their teachers in the view that the tests adversely impact some students.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in previous issues including editor's note of October issue, article on work on Jesse Hagopian in Seattle's Garfield High school in October issue, and interview with Kshama Sawat and Bernie Sanders in November issue.

The article discusses a boycott conducted by teachers of the Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington, against the school's Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) computerized high-stakes educational test. Topics include the impact of the MAP tests on teacher evaluation according to Kris McBride, Garfield's testing coordinator, support for the boycott by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the importance, according to the boycotting teachers, of testing validity of high-stakes tests.

The article discusses a teacher boycott at Washington state's Garfield High School against the Measures of Academic Progress tests, excerpted from the January 2013 blog post "Seattle Teachers' Test Boycott: Reading the Tea Leaves" by Catherine Gewertz in the issue's Curriculum Matters blog.

The article features the jazz education program of Seattle, Washington-based Garfield High School. The band drummer Clarence Acox leads the school's A Band, which has garnered popularity by winning consistently in the Essentially Ellington big band competition and touring Europe. Senior student Julian Garvue says that the touring has helped band members to bond well.