The Empire Strikes Back Against Kids Who Opt Out Of State Tests

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1. Dr. Luann Lee says:

   July 2, 2013 at 5:29 pm

   I see that the state is also stepping up with big $$ to fund the summer school sessions, staffed with accomplished teachers, too. #sarcasmfont

   Reply
   • Jack says:

     October 12, 2013 at 4:53 pm

     Oh… my… God… this is a funny
     parody created by some NY parents
     opting who are out:

     Reply
2. Dan Leopold says:

   July 2, 2013 at 5:38 pm

   There is a special place for Klein, Rhee, Bloomberg, and the rest of the corporate reformers who continue this testing madness, and inequality in schools.

   What are we to do? Do we stand by our values and let our school age children pay the price or do we succumb to the corporate testing regime because we don’t want to see our children penalized even though it is wrong?

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   • retiredbutmissthekids says:

     July 2, 2013 at 5:49 pm

     Dan–please read my response below. I am 100% positive that you are not the only parent who feels this way. Find the other like-minded parents–talk amongst yourselves, & grow a plan.
     Contact Parents Across America, & find your NYC chapter. Contact Leonie Haimson, Director of Class Size Matters to find other contacts. DON’T be quiet about this because–bottom line–your children will be penalized by TAKING the tests. Contact a parent who’s a lawyer. or a group of you parents GET a lawyer.
     Looking at what has gone down in Chicago and Seattle, there must be hundreds of you who do not want your schools to be testing factories. There is strength in numbers–squeaky wheels get the oil and you all CAN stop this madness, which is NOT education. Yes, YOU can!

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   • Duane Swacker says:

     July 2, 2013 at 11:11 pm

     Yes, Dan, there is a special place for them. See this entry in my ongoing effort to write a “Devil’s Dictionary of Education (with All Due Apologies to Ambrose Bierce):

     Karmic Gods of Retribution:

     Those ethereal beings specifically evolved to construct the 21st level in Dante’s Hell. The 21st level signifies the combination of the 4th (greed), 8th (fraud) and 9th (treachery) levels into one mega level reserved especially for the edudeformers and those, who, knowing the negative consequences of the edudeformers agenda, willing implemented it so as to go along to get along. The Karmic Gods of Retribution also personally escort these poor souls, upon their physical death, to the 21st level unless they enlighten themselves, a la one D. Ravitch, to the evil and harm they have caused so many innocent children, and repent and fight against their former fellow deformers. There the edudeformers will lie down on a floor of smashed and broken ipads and ebooks curled in a fetal position alternately sucking their thumbs to the bones while listening to two words-Educational Excellence-repeated without pause for eternity.

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3. Yvonne Siu-Runyan says:

   July 2, 2013 at 5:39 pm

   This is exactly what FASCISTS do!

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4. retiredbutmissthekids says:

   July 2, 2013 at 5:42 pm

   Okay you New York City parents and students–you know what to do.
   Show them that the citizens of the Big Apple bite back! ALL of you Opt Out (follow the lead in Seattle). Not enough test-takers? (No data!) Flunk EVERYONE? (How’s THAT going to work out for ya, NYCDoE?)
   It is up to YOU to take back your schools AND your hard-earned money (instead of allowing the NYC DoE to fritter all its school funds away on Pear$on “standardized”
   {quotes, because they are NOT standardized–their tests are neither valid nor reliable}
   tests. OPT OUT NOW!!!

   Reply
5. Zee says:

   July 2, 2013 at 6:39 pm

   In history classes students learn about individuals that did not accept social inequality nor oppression. Activists such as Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells-Barton, Susan B. Anthony and Rosa Parks to name a few heroines, took the bull by the horns and broke off one horn to carve a new path for the next generations.

   Today, hour after hour, American students sit at desks, reading and learning about American courage. But when they exercise their right to protest something they strongly believe is more of a detriment than an improvement in the quality of public education, they are punished? Fine. Go to summer school and learn everything that is placed before you. And when you complete the lessons, walk up to Admin’s desk and say, “Please sir, may I have some more?”

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   • FLERP! says:

     July 2, 2013 at 7:02 pm

     Presumably summer school is largely test prep.

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6. Michael Fiorillo says:

   July 2, 2013 at 6:48 pm

   Not to understate the risks taken by children and parents who opt out – institutional vindictiveness and harassment, the stress of frequent conflict – but whomever might be considering it should know that a majority of parent participation would not be necessary for success. Only a fraction of famlies opting out would likely be successful, and go a long towards saving the public schools.

   It seems to me that once a certain critical mass (15-30% of students?) is reached, administrative threats will be impossible to enforce. Once other parents see that the deformers and their apparatchiks’ threats are hollow, they will gladly join in, endangering the entire so-called education reform project.

   Let more statistically literate people correct me if I’m wrong, but my intuition tells me that the validity of any testing data emanating from such a sample is far more open to challenge than their already dubious test scores.

   Parent organizations – with the aid of dissident teachers, since the AFT and NEA are hopeless under their current leadership, lawyers and elected officials – need to start developing support networks for those considering this step which, while entailing real risks, is one of the most significant acts of civil disobedience one could perform in any political venue right now.

   It would be a courageous act of civil disobedience that would serve their own and all other children, public education, and democracy itself.

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   • Duane Swacker says:

     July 2, 2013 at 11:16 pm

     Quite correct about the critical mass of parents, Michael. Every parent I talk to I encourage them to opt their kids out of this insanity.

     Reply
7. concernedmom says:

   July 2, 2013 at 6:53 pm

   It is irresponsible is it to put children in summer school who shouldn’t be there. That harms the students who failed and need the extra help.

   Reply
   • Duane Swacker says:

     July 2, 2013 at 11:17 pm

     Concernedmom,

     Quit being so common sensical! You’re messing with their karma!

     Reply
8. jaded says:

   July 2, 2013 at 6:58 pm

   Lawyer up! I do not believe this is happening in other parts of the state. Why just NYC? There is already a lawsuit regarding the different ways children have been treated throughout the state. http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/04/25/57025.htm

   Reply
   • Chris Cerrone says:

     July 3, 2013 at 6:53 pm

     I believe NYCDOE is the only district is the NYS that requires a “proficient score” to be promoted. Large numbers of families in different regions across NYS boycotted the state assessments this year with no harm to the students. What if a student was sick or on vacation during the test? Would they be held back? This is an attempt to bully students. The opt out movement increased significantly from the previous year and some districts are desperate to stop it.

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     • jaded says:

       July 3, 2013 at 8:02 pm

       Yes, this is bullying, but is it legal? Seems like each district set its own “rules”. Anything in writing before the testing?

     • Chris Cerrone says:

       July 3, 2013 at 8:38 pm

       Past precedent and policy I believe…

9. Galton says:

   July 2, 2013 at 7:15 pm

   The king has revealed for all to see his point of maximum vulnerability. Without compliance and the tests, their whole reformy sellout scheme will collapse. This is not their last attempt to force compliance of the Kommon Kore.
   Bow and be thankful to lords Gates & Broad.

   Reply
10. drext727 says:

    July 2, 2013 at 7:53 pm

    Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.

    Reply
11. john abramson says:

    July 2, 2013 at 8:08 pm

    I mihasght be terribly ignorant, but on what basis is DOE making these decisions? Are there any regulations concerning grade retention and/or summer school attendance? If no regulations have been promulgated, any guidelines? Does DOE have the legal authority to enforce this punishment ? Do parents have a right to due process protections (appeal)? Can parents seek injunctive relief on the basis of immediate harm to students?

    Reply
12. ira shor says:

    July 2, 2013 at 8:49 pm

    Please, opt-out parents, start a legal fund we can donate to or tell us which already existing fund will finance your legal costs so we can send money there.

    Reply
13. Texas Parents Opt Out says:

    July 2, 2013 at 8:52 pm

    Over my dead body will my children attend summer school.

    Reply
    • Duane Swacker says:

      July 2, 2013 at 11:19 pm

      Now, there’s a “bad ass” parent!

      Reply
14. Don Corley says:

    July 2, 2013 at 8:57 pm

    Unwarranted. They are forcing kids to attend a few weeks of summer school so those teachers can then decide what the teachers who had them all year have already told them?

    A definite punishment/show of power. I wonder how they are justifying the cost of doing this?

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15. Robert D. Shepherd says:

    July 2, 2013 at 9:41 pm

    These people lack all decency.

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    • Duane Swacker says:

      July 2, 2013 at 11:20 pm

      They had some to begin with???

      Reply
16. George Buzzetti says:

    July 2, 2013 at 10:02 pm

    What an upside down fascist world we live in. Am I in prewar Germany or Austria? Sure seems like it. Read “Hapsburgs to Hitler” if you want to know how they did it and it lasted for over 90 years in Austria now. So, why not do it in the U.S. it worked there. So far it is on track. Time to give it a flat tire and a blown motor don’t you think?

    Reply
    • teachingeconomist says:

      July 2, 2013 at 11:39 pm

      I think prewar Germany and Austria had a decidedly different view of the LGBT community, among other of their citizens, than exists in the United States now.

      Reply
      • FLERP! says:

        July 3, 2013 at 10:14 am

        It’s all part of the master plan, TE.

17. RL says:

    July 3, 2013 at 9:09 am

    I’m a NYC teacher. Every year, I’m pulled from teaching my children to spend 2 weeks assembling these ridiculous “promotional portfolios”. Every June, the entire school focuses on assembling these nonsensical portfolios. What does this involve….more testing, of course. June is normally the time when teachers and students can do what they should have been doing throughout the year – engaging in authentic learning. Instead, we are test prep factories. Now, June is taken away for more assessment testing. It is utter nonsense. If I were a NYC parent, I would be outraged. My 7th grade son refused the exam (I live in the suburbs of NYC). He isn’t being punished for refusing – he is going on to the 8th grade. Parents, NYC has no right to punish your children. This is not a NYS policy – it is a Bloomturd policy. It’s time to stand up for your children! The teachers are being silenced, we cannot do it alone.

    Reply
    • FLERP! says:

      July 3, 2013 at 10:13 am

      Well, only six more months of Bloomberg, right?

      I assume many if not most of the mayoral candidates have stated that they believe there’s “too much standardized testing,” but have any said what they’ll do to change the specific problem you’re describing? As a half-interested observer at this point in the race, the only education policy points I recall coming up are charter school co-locations, whether the next chancellor should have an education background, the composition of the PEP, and school discipline.

      Reply
18. kkeevins@aol.com says:

    July 3, 2013 at 9:36 am

    Now’s the time for a class action suit!

    Sent from my iPhone

    Reply