Massachusetts officials say parents can’t opt out of state tests. Several local school districts are opting out anyway. Just do it. The children belong to their family, not the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Ask yourself:
What would Henry David Thoreau do?
What would Ralph Waldo Emerson do?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Free should the scholar be, — free and brave. Free even to the definition of freedom.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, August 31, 1837 from “The American Scholar” speech.
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Great speech.
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Emerson and Thoreau and civics classes focusing on governent and how it is run vs. how it should be run, in my opinion, would be a boon for every student in America as a national standard. It would form a cohesive nation.
Math and Language Arts, though vital to education, should be in the hands of local school boards with oversight from the district, state, and federal govenment.
With our form of a bastardized democratic republic, it will never happen. The oligarchs are dividing the nation and creating a permanent underclass, those left behind in public schools, those ELL, hard to teach, and special ed students who wil sit fallow in dismal classrooms as the public money flows to those at the top of the heap.
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“There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience
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amen
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Here’s a great quote I read on the stop Common Core in New York page – I believe this was attributed to Meg Norris.
“I think it is hilarious that public schools have got parents thinking that the Core test is akin to the Draft. Just. Say. No”
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If I may correct your statement: “. . . the Core test is akin to drugs. Just. Say. No!”
It’s a catchy phrase, ineffectual as it has been as far as pre-marital sex, using drugs or alcohol or to signing up for the military.
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I ain’t gonna do it.
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I would love to hear from more Massachusetts families on this subject. I live in mass and my daughter had two days of MCAS testing this week, within the last two months took NWEA tests (what the heck are those!) and I am almost certain our district will be part of the flipping PARCC tests coming before the end of the year.
Also my particular district LOVES their tests….I just hope there are families and teachers that actually oppose them and feel differently, but perhaps haven’t felt they’d get support. I keep looking!
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I’m in MA. I’m a teacher and a parent. I feel trapped, too.
I’m searching for answers…
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Join us at Mass Parents Opt Out of PARCC Pilot Testing @ Facebook
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resist as you can
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Kay – we are parents of 3 children in MA. Since March 5th when I joined 6 moms from my town to attend a Northboro forum to hear Sandra Stotsky & Jamie Gass (www. pioneerinstitute.org), we have been learning everything we can about PARCC/CCSS. On Feb 24, we learned our 3rd grader “won” the PARCC ELA lottery “mandating” 5 additional days of research of “test the test” research. Here was my letter to her principal today – .
This is our formal notice requesting that our daughter not participate in the upcoming PARCC Pilot ELA assessment on April 1-3.
We have every intent to send our child to school – and more than willing to work with you and XYZ teacher. Our preference is to send her as usual to school on the bus. Please advise otherwise.
This is neither an easy or welcomed position to take as a parent.
Please know this decision has been made only after extensive reading, attendance at the district PARCC Pilot info session and finally, attendance at the DESE’s regional PARCC meeting with Bob Bickerton at Framingham State on Tuesday night.
https://www.google.com/search?q=milford+daily+news&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=&rlz=
It is unfortunate the DESE and Commissioner Chester have effectively ABANDONED administrators and teachers – and most importantly, OUR KIDS, with their much delayed response to the numerous requests calling for a formal “Opt Out” provision from districts and parents across our state.
Thanks in advance for your support of our decision.
This afternoon we received a response honoring this request.
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Go to Mass Parents Opt Out of PARCC Pilot Testing @ Facebook
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awesome
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Teachers can not oppose the tests and keep their jobs. Parents will not lose their family income if they oppose the tests, but they will be protecting their child’s future.
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Do it for the vine…
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Got me there, expound please chemtchr.
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It’s a meme. I hadn’t seen it, but my 10th students were playing with it after the MCAS Wednesday. I took a chance and uttered the required answer. Hope nobody had their cell phone out!
Google for it, and get back to me.
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do it for the vine!!!
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chem, I ain’t gonna do it
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USA or USSR?
This directive smacks of a totalitarian state (a term used to describe a political system in which the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever possible).
Neo-liberals gone wild!
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absolutely
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exactly…
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A parent at a private preschool event this morning told me he had heard talk of “mandatory preschool.” I said I suspected what he meant was universal preschool, which simply meant that preschool would be available to anyone who wants it. I was baffled that anyone would think anything would be “mandatory” in terms of schooling for young children. But then read this about parents not being able to opt kids out and nothing surprises me anymore.
Yes—darn right those parents should say no. What the heck are school officials thinking? Why do they think this is good for children?
Will some real leadership please stand up?
Conscripted testing. What in the world?
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Joanna,
Not sure what your definition of young children is but there already is mandatory schooling to the age of 16 in most jurisdictions.
“Conscripted testing. What in the world?”
Brought to you by the “bestest and brightest” of this generation.
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preschool.
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Friday night. . .Duane’s brain is a loaded gun. Is it pointed at you?
Stay tuned to the blog and take your chances. . .
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It’s Friday?
Getting my days mixed up. Been on the river toooo long!!!! No, never toooo long, it’s just that the name of the day doesn’t seem too important on the river.
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One inmate to other inmate: “So what are you in for?”
Other inmate: “Opting my kid out of tests.”
Someone please pinch me and wake me up from this bad dream.
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Other inmate: “Opting my kid out of tests.”
And they all moved away to the other end of the Group W bench.
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LOL. I am so happy that someone remembers this. 😛
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Perfect!
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Hedge fund billionaire and former Enron trader John Arnold’s privatization push is meeting some local resistance in Texas. Apparently they don’t take kindly to a billionaire pushing his way in and taking over their local schools.
When people asked questions without prior permission and clearance, they were ignored:
Backers of an effort to convert Dallas ISD to a home-rule district Thursday night struggled to win over a crowd of frustrated parents, teachers and activists.
State Rep. Jason Villalba, Dallas City Council member Jennifer Staubach Gates and others leading a town hall meeting on the issue in northwest Dallas were interrupted on several occasions. They were asked why the campaign is moving so fast, who is funding it, what a new governance structure might look like, and why none of their promotional materials were published in Spanish.
Attendees appeared largely unsatisfied with the answers.
“What is the rush on this thing?” he said. “Why not start the process again and include people? Who’s behind this?”
“Support Our Public Schools, also known as SOPS, is financially supported by Hillcrest High graduate John Arnold, a Houston philanthropist and former Enron trader and hedge fund manager, and other, anonymous donors.
State records show the group was formed in November as a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) nonprofit. Louisa Meyer, chair of the Dallas ISD Citizens Budget Review Commission, is one of the organization’s five board members. She was among the meeting leaders at the northwest Dallas meeting.
She addressed whether the names of donors would be publicized.
“It’s the privilege of the donors to remain anonymous,” Meyer said, to a chorus of boos.”
“Thursday’s meeting was disrupted several times by frustrated opponents of the plan. In almost every case, the meeting organizers ignored them, saying that only questions that were written down would be answered.
Local activist Carlos Quintanilla refused to be ignored. He demanded to know why the meetings did not also include opponents of the home-rule effort.
“Because this is not a debate,” Villalba said. “Tonight is a town hall forum.”
Quintanilla promised: “We’re not going to make it easy for you!”
“This is not a debate”. Could be the ed reform slogan.
They really present balanced information to these local folks, huh? Another packed board of lock-step privatization pom pom wavers and cheerleaders. No dissenters allowed.
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They’re really in a bind. This important report came over the listserv for my Teachers Action Group in Massachusetts today. I don’t know if the author needs to maintain confidentiality, so I will redact the location.
“My co-worker and I were at this meeting. DESE came to XXX as part of its national sale’s pitch for PARCC and Common Core. There were about 40-50 people in attendance…many of them teachers and parents from districts surrounding XXX. It was a very sad scene–as DESE is trying to sell another test when the last thing parents and teachers want is another assessment. Lots of folks asked about opting-out of the trial tests. The response by Bob Bickerton, the Senior Associate Commissioner, was “We have no authority to provide an opt-out option according to the Education Reform Act of 1993”, but he also said “it is not up to public officials to force your kids. No one is going to force your kids to take the test”. This was very significant!”
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Thanks for quoting my favorite Transcendentalists who saw the dangers of their era and spoke out.
It is now not only “neo-liberals gone wild” but the convergence of the oligarchs overreach for profit (the Billionaires), the power mongers thinking only they can enforce educational edicts as they do all others (ALEC), legislators who we see are bought (Congress), and a Supreme Court run amuck (Citizen’s United), but also a very lazy public which seems to prefer to let all this happen because it is too hard to fight back (the 99 percent).
If our Dem Prez had instructed Eric Holder to prosecute the banksters, and if Wall Street had been reigned in, and if these thieves had not charged usurious amounts of interest for student loans, and if a true educator had been appointed to oversee American public schools instead of a basketball buddy/hedge funder who sits in the lap of the Prez, and so many other ‘ifs’ ….maybe we would have had a more rational, humane, and positive outcome.
As voters we have learned that we cannot rely on either party to represent the public, but that both in are the service of Midas and only follow his gold.
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The tea party movement is not in the service of Midas. Consider it.
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Harlan…you don’t think the top dog of the Tea Party, Dick Armey of FreedomWorks, is in the service of Midas? Do some extensive reading going back to his time in Congress.
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Well, Midas kills everything he touches, and that sums up the Koch brothers strategy in underwriting the populist wing of the Republican Party.
We can bring those red-state working class people over to the progressive resistance, though, through this issue. The hard right is wooing them, and burnishing its credibility, while attacking Obama from very solid ground.
http://www.humanevents.com/2014/03/19/revolt-against-the-testing-tyrants/
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I agree chemteacher that it is a moment to coalesce with these folks over our one issue in common.
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I think it’s time that the teachers in Massachusetts teach the rest of the nation about civil disobedience. We can’t wait for the parents any longer.
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Gutsy. I hope it happens. After all, Massachusetts was where the American Independence movement fired the shot heard round the world. No better way to make the news. Even though every single teacher in Mass could probably be replaced in 24 hours if they all were fired, I doubt that would happen. Better if each school board passes an opt out policy. Or maybe not. If I were not retired, I am wondering what I would do. Would I refuse a direct order from the principal? Would I risk firing for insubordination? I think I’ll write my former student who teaches now in Pittsfield and ask whether he’s going to refuse to administer the test. It’s not technically “civil disobedience” because the teachers would not be disobeying a public law.
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Harlan, your comment is exactly the reason teachers continue to comply…it was exactly the reason I continued to comply, myself, until I could no longer stand what I was a part of and chose to resign rather than risk retribution.
But I think we both know that the reality is, there is power and safety in numbers, and there is no way every MA teacher would be fired (much less replaced) if they each made the individual decision to act collectively for the well-being of children.
Would you refuse a direct order from the principal if what you were being ordered to do was something that was harmful to your students? Especially if each of your colleagues also refused?
I would hope so. Ask your former student if he would be willing to refuse to administer PARCC if every other teacher in his building refused.
Getting each school board to pass an opt-out policy is the sensible way to do things, of course, but it’s also time consuming and uncertain…
I wish teachers could have the guts to take some serious action.
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Gutsy, indeed. All honor to those who have the courage and self respect and patriotism to stand against this tyranny.
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Bob, standing against tyranny is well and good, but here’s what you’re applauding:
“We can’t wait for the parents any longer.”
We haven’t been “waiting” for parents. We’ve been mobilizing them, and they’ve been mobilizing us.
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chem, do you really have to argue every little point about everything?
I’m not even sure about the point you are trying to make – or disagreeing with me about – anymore.
What is it? That it’s best for teachers to plod along compliantly and silently? Until when?
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Jill, there are a lot of brave things teachers can do, and are doing, to protect our kids from test abuse. Cutting the parents out of the question isn’t good civil disobedience strategy, though, and it isn’t necessary.
No wonder Harlan likes it. You say,
“The only parent who likely would Opt-Out his/her child is the parent who takes the initiative to dig deeper – who turns away from mainstream media and instead looks to social media for information. And how many are likely to do that?”
You describe these parents thoughts, as: “you think these reform efforts and Duncan/Obama policy are actually good for your children,” but you know better. If you’re prepared to risk your job, why on earth would you not just pass out information to your students to connect their parents with the opt-out movement?!!
You start with the reality,
“Social media is abuzz with conversations about “Opting-Out”; organizations that are designed to inform and encourage parents to opt their children out are cropping up everywhere.”
All the successful opt-out movements started with parents.
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I don’t totally agree with how you took my words…I do NOT think we should “cut parents out” of the question at all – & ideally, I wish more of the parents were more “in” with opting-out. But you can’t deny that it is a long, slow process in getting them there…and frankly, we don’t have the time it seems like it will take to wait for enough to get on board with it.
I DO believe that parents who rely on mainstream media think these reform efforts are actually good for their children…why wouldn’t they? As a teacher and parent myself, it wasn’t until I took the initiative to “dig deeper” that I, myself, believed Obama/Duncan’s ed reform to be something worth supporting…and DID…even though in the classroom, it didn’t make any sense to me.
Please don’t misunderstand – I hope the parents can become aware enough, fast enough, to create a successful opt-out movement that will truly, finally, bring about the change we are all waiting for. But so far, it doesn’t look that way. So what’s the harm in letting – or encouraging – the teachers to take the reins for awhile? The parents will surely only get on board as they do. I expect my own boys’ teachers to only ever act in their best interests…why shouldn’t every parent in the country feel the same? And who’s to say they don’t believe we are? Only we know that by complying with this insanity, the reality is, we are not. And that’s a shame.
In terms of your final sentence…”all the successful opt-out movements started with parents”…the fact that we are still fighting this battle over high stakes tests and corporate reform bodes the question – where is this “success” of which you speak? Because, to me, a baby step is not the same as a successful movement.
What’s the harm in letting the teachers help create one? I hope someday they do. Because I believe it’s their duty as educators to do what’s best for the children they teach; that it the bottom line. Teachers need to be reminded of that, as far as I’m concerned.
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But you’re saying what “they” should do, jill. And I’m saying “we”.
Here is more defeatist discourse:
“where is this “success” of which you speak? Because, to me, a baby step is not the same as a successful movement.”
The growth of parent opposition isn’t a baby step. It is frightening the corporate reform movement so badly, they’ve deployed an army of concern trolls across the web to deflect our leadership of it.
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Of course, I do not think that we have been “waiting” for parents. I meant only that I am moved by the willingness of parents to take a stand on this. That’s very important.
That said, I think that these are healthy debates within our own camp, but let’s not let them deflect us from recognizing that our energies need to be devoted to attacking the deformers, not to attacking the ideologically impure within our own anti-deform camp. I want to see ed deform defeated. I welcome any and all opposition to it. My opposition to ed deform IS ROOTED IN MY RESPECT FOR FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND FOR DIVERSITY. So, I am not going to expect that everyone think as I do. My opposition to that IS THE POINT.
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Sorry, I meant that I am moved by teachers who are willing to take a stand. This is indeed gutsy. Those teachers have a lot to lose, immediately. They can and are being fired for opposition to deform. I think that Jill’s comment was a simple recognition of the fact that many teachers are fearful of opposing the deformers and have kept cool about their opposition to deform as a result. I can’t understand why anyone would oppose a call to action from teachers. Issuing such a call to action does not in any way imply that the speaker thinks that no teachers have been acting to date. Many have, and courageously. But the immediate issue is that we need teachers to refuse to give these tests. We need them to organize to do so. We need more of what happened in Seattle with MAP.
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Another MA superintendent speaking up:
http://superintendentlps.blogspot.com/2014/03/enough-is-enough.html
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wonderful!!!
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Check out our video of the DESE stating students will not be forced to take the test at Mass Parents Opt Out of PARCC Pilot Testing
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Mike, there’s no link! I really want that video, but when I Google for your web site, I get About 3,860 results (0.40 seconds). There’s no video.
That’s good news, of course, but we need the video link. It needs to be a clean video, with no editorializing, so teachers can show it to our eleventh graders during our advisory classes to spark discussion of topics relevant to their lives, yes?
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Sorry about that! I should have mentioned we are on Facebook.
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Here it is.
Unfortunately, the quality is very poor. Does anybody else have a video resource teachers could use for student discussions in high school?
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The PARCC pilot that is about to invade schools across Massachusetts is NOT yet a state assessment. It is nothing more than a field-test…a study…an experiment, whose sole purpose is for policymakers to subsequently examine and assess different facets of it before deciding whether it will replace the MCAS.
No one has the right to even suggest that parents can’t opt their children out of participating.
There is no Massachusetts policy on PARCC because PARCC is not policy here. And it mightn’t ever be.
And this is my point, (@Chem, especially)…what’s stopping Massachusetts educators from opting-out of this field study, too?
There shouldn’t be fear of retribution, because legally there can’t be any.
You can’t fire a state’s worth of teachers for refusing to take part in an experiment.
Every Massachusetts teacher and parent should read the recent correspondence between Commissioner Chester and Jim Stergios, the executive director of the Pioneer Institute.
Here are the links:
I wonder when the Commissioner plans to respond again.
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PS…thank you, Bob…that was exactly what I was trying to say!
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There are two powerful and specific calls this week, for united mass action in the struggle to free public schools from the corporate reform grip.
One is the call for congressional hearings into test abuse.
One is the call for teachers and parents to unite, to build a mass boycott of abusive tests by a variety of means, responding to our specific situation.
It amazes me how commentators can fill whole pages with weasel arguments opposing those initiatives, and take offense when I argue with them. Yes, unity behind an action is a black-and-white kind of thing, especially when the action is in progress and is scaring the bejeezuz out of the deformers.
I’m a public school teacher in Massachusetts, and this column is titled, “Can Massachusetts parents opt out?” Parent resistance to the PARCC rollout is a powerful force we’re building. I’m calling on my colleagues to join me in working with our communities and our students to break the grip of the testing industry.
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chem, I’m not sure why you’re having such a hard time understand what it is I’ve been trying to say…I’m not opposing any initiative – I have spread the word to as many parents as I know that they should be opting-out. & the only “argument” I’m having with you is to argue that you are completely misinterpreting what I’m saying here…that’s all. There is really no need for debate here. We all need to stay on the same page and keep our focus on the same goal, and stop nitpicking and arguing over silliness.
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