Teachers and students at the University of Massachusetts are still fighting to reinstate School of Education lecturer Dr. Barbara Madeloni after she received a letter of nonrenewal last spring.

The nonrenewal came after Madeloni announced her active involvement involved in the protesting of a new teaching assessment.

The University’s education department has denied any correlation between the nonrenewal and Madeloni’s active engagement.

Last spring, Madeloni and 67 of 68 graduate students in the education department protested against the Pearson-Stanford Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA), a new development by the Pearson Corporation which assesses teachers’ performance online

“It’s standardizing something that shouldn’t be standardized: the development of a teacher,” Madeloni said. “Corporations don’t share our interest, they only want to make a profit, and that could result in losing the essence of public education.”

“She is never someone to keep quiet about what she believes,” said Rachel Hoogstraten, a graduate student who was involved with the protests, of Madeloni. “As a grad student, it was a little uncomfortable, but then I got used to it.”

UMass was asked to participate in a national pilot and field test of the TPA for the 2011-2012 school year.

“We are a research university, and being involved with such a project is consistent with that research mission and with the ultimate goal of preparing outstanding teachers,” said Christine McCormick, the dean of the School of Education

Shortly after the protests took place, and were featured in a May 6 article by the New York Times, Madeloni found out her contract would not be renewed for 2013.

Many students have said the nonrenewal was because of the protests.

“I think with the protests, the University thought she was more trouble than she was worth,” Hoogstraten said.

McCormick said the decision of Madeloni’s dismissal was established before any of the protests occurred and that it had nothing to do with her views of the TPA, adding that the lectures Madeloni taught will be taken over by tenured faculty this year.

According to the New York Times, the University also holds allegations against Madeloni, saying that she corrupted her students into protesting.

“On the first day of class, Professor Madeloni told all of us students about the Pearson testing, and that UMass agreed to implement this testing on our class,” said Danielle Nelson, a graduate student who was involved with the protests. “I had a negative reaction because I wasn’t included in making this decision.”

Some students involved with the protests said it didn’t feel like a protest until people started calling it one. Nelson said that the University would not answer protester’s questions about the TPA, and it seemed like there was no space for student opinion on the subject, which prompted the protest.

The TPA was brought for its trial run at UMass without the informed consent of the students who would be using it, according to some of the graduate students it affected.

According to the New York Times, the University told students that because it was a trial program, no consent was required, though some students saw it as being used for human research.

The University eventually allowed the students to give consent, but some students, like Hoogstraten, still saw it as mandatory.

Hoogstraten claims that “on the (Pearson) website, it was clear that it was human research.”

“The University told us that uploading our work onto the TPA platform was considered giving our consent, but we also needed to upload our work in order to graduate,” Hoogstraten said.

Madeloni said her students became angry at the accusations that they were brainwashed and not acting on behalf of their own beliefs.

“It’s outrageous. As a social justice educator, I am supposed to voice my opinions and give my students a voice of their own,” Madeloni said. “The administration’s allegation of this is deeply contradictory to the commitment of social justice.”

Madeloni continues to voice her opinion against the TPA, which will not be used at the University this year, and the corporatization of the education system.

A group formed over the summer consisting of students, teachers and Madeloni regarding her contract nonrenewal, sent out petitions to McCormick in hopes to reinstate Madeloni back in the education department.

“I want to get my job back and teach again,” Madeloni said.

On Oct. 19, there will be an all-day Teach-In from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Cape Cod Lounge in the Student Union called “Can’t Be Neutral.”

Katherine Clark can be reached at [email protected]