Read Alan Singer’s column posted in Valerie Strauss’s blog The Answer Sheet to learn how the Obama family opted out.””
Singer says that the Obamas opted out of high-stakes testing by sending their daughters to Sidwell Friends, which does not give standardized tests to every child every year and does not evaluate teachers by the test scores of their students.
Now you can opt out your children from high-stakes tests too. It’s not hard. NYS Allies for Public Education has a sample “refusal” letter and video instructions on its website. All parents have to do is fill out the letter and deliver it to the school principal, either in person or via email. They also recommend a follow-up call before the test dates to remind school personnel. Last year approximately 60,000 New York State students refused to take the tests. In New York State, high-stakes Common Core aligned math and reading tests will be administered in grades 3-8 from April 14 – 16 and April 22 – April 24.
Karen Magee, president of the New York state teachers’ union (NYSUT) is calling for a statewide boycott of the Common Core-aligned tests to protest new testing regulations and test-based evaluations of teachers propagated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Despite evidence against the validity of evaluating teachers using student scores on these tests, Cuomo demanded that 50 percent of every teacher’s evaluation be based on test results in their schools. Meanwhile, he is unable to explain how the 70 percent of teachers who do not teach tested subjects can legitimately be judged based on the tests.
Open the links and learn how you can opt out with sending your children to private school to escape the test prep and high-stakes tests imposed by NCLB and made worse by Race to the Top and the new Common Core tests.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
“Seeds of Destruction”
Exemptions from the draft
Were easy for the rich
And so with testing, daft
A cinch to simply ditch
But those who ain’t elite
Are goaded to protest
And likely to defeat
The things that they detest
“Eve of Destruction”??
Obama is a smart guy. Now, if he would just use those smarts to see that U.S. public education has been hijacked by big education corporations. Then the rest of our kids might be able to benefit the way Obama’s daughters do.
See? Are you delusional? He is not only seeing, he is orchestrating the entire thing as well while collaborating with other well to do people who have their hands in this nonsense also.
Real One, asking me if I am delusional wasn’t necessary. It’s rude.
Get a life and don’t be so sensitive. We are on your side.
Obama is behind all of this, but he’s not doing it alone . . . .
Is this a blog for adult educators or mouthy adolescents? “Are you delusional?” “Get a life”. I expect better dialogue from fourth graders. Show some maturity in a conversation. This is what we are teaching our kids by example.
Kris, while delusional is a strong word, isn’t it a bit naive, after all the things Obama has done to facilitate the hostile takeover over of public education, going back to his time in Chicago, to expect him to “wake up” to the things he himself is promoting?
He’s an extremely intelligent man, and knows exactly what he is doing, which is in fact what he was hired to do.
Michael, you said it yourself. Obama is extremely intelligent. That is why I hope he might see the disaster that public education has become. I’m not counting on it, but I’ve been surprised on other occasions.
My concern with verbiage and tone on this blog is that it not sink to the juvenile levels I have seen on other blogs.
I don’t think you understood my comment. Obama has a long history of being close to the so-called reformers, going back to his involvement with the Joyce Foundation in Chicago. To suggest that he’s somehow unaware of what is being done in the name of the law he continues to push is naive.
Obama’s intelligence gives him more, not less, responsibility for what is going on, especially considering that so-called reform is politically bipartisan, which doesn’t allow him and his supporters their usual excuse that it’s all the Republicans fault.
Finally, I think you should save your outrage for the actual behavior of the so-called reformers, which in practice is quite venal and nasty, rather than the tone of blog comments.
Michael, I do know that Obama is deeply involved with “reformers”. Obama is the reason Colorado ended up with Senator Michael Bennet, a choice I regret. Both Obama and Bennet sincerely believed that legislation, privatization and punitive measures will force schools to correct the problems caused by poverty and the deterioration of societal supports. It is outrageous and I feel it every day in my classroom.
I am starting to see some resistance on the part of school administration. Thank God. Up till now, our administration just obeyed all mandates, in spite of consequences to students and schools. There is hope and I am not giving up!
My outrage is for the damage caused by reformers. My disgust is for people who use name-calling and crude remarks in an otherwise productive blog conversation.
Calling you delusional is not rude. I simply stated the obvious. If you are hoping for Obama to realize that Corporations have high jacked education then you are indirectly implying that Obama does not know or is simply not aware of it when in fact he is one of the main perpetrators when it comes to dismantling public education. Toughen up buddy; being called delusional should not warrant such a defensive response
Of course they did. It gives me peace knowing that Obama will go down as being one of the worst U.S. Presidents of all time. Bush and Obama did so much damage to the U.S. public schools. It is sad that the disappearing middle class and the poor have to put our children through this.
And excellent education is for the privileged and a crappy one that harms children, families, and educators is for other people’s children.
Same rule, not coincidentally, for those who fight America’s war campaigns . . . .
Why should Obama and his guttersnipe wife subject their children to the crappy policies that we subject ours to? How dare the rest of us think we have a civil right to quality . . . .
“guttersnipe wife”? Really??!!!
Yes, Shelley. She’s behind this reform movement as well and worked hard with her street urchin husband to a chartering schools in Chicago a decade ago. They both belonged to organizations that pushed privatization.
I chose my adjective exactingly. Neither of them want to even consider redistribution of wealth among the wealthiest inviduals and corporations to help mitigate poverty and pay for social infrastructure.
Guttersnipe is a kind word and does not resort to cursing.
Of course, Obama and wife are no better than the Bushes, Eli Broad et al, but Obama and wife are the president and First Lady . . . . .
They are reprehensible.
Fiorillo, care to chime in?
Correction:
“charterizing schools . . . . . “
Isn’t the argument that the pro-choice folks make that the poor don’t have the resources to send their kids to private schools so they opt for “public” charters instead? There you have it. The opt out for the poor: charters. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you, whether you like it or not, whether you choose it or not, and even though you pay for it via your taxes, directly into Wendy Kopp’s husband’s bank account, all over New Jersey.
I can not imagine that the Obamas used a single criteria of high stakes testing to choose the school for their children. The president of the United States has many things to consider in the choice, security being the first. Then comes quality of education. Besides Obama and Bush causing the most damage to public schools cannot be proven and is not the point of discussion here. Diane Ravitch may correct me on this.
Besides this blog has no right to define the worst president as Obama or Bush. Keep comments general and stop bashing Obama, Bush, Wendy Kopp’s husbands bank account, etc. Please keep the discussion going in a civilized manner and stop the diatribe.
Teacher Raj, teacher Raj, (says the student flagrantly, wildly raising his hand):
“Can I correct you on this??? I promise I’ll be civilized!!!”
OK with me.
It’s so cute how you, of all people, call for civility.
Thank you! I completely agree. Also, I find that there is a huge difference between “opting out” (I had to sign paperwork and have discussions with school administrators) and being “exempt” where none of the additional steps are required. I do not begrudge the choice of Sidwell for this and the other presidents before him. I am irked that Duncan does not acknowledge the differences.
Raj,
I don’t recall writing on this blog that Bush or Obama caused “the most damage to public schools,” although now that you mention it, I think it is probably true, since they both pushed privatization and embraced high-stakes testing and school closings. Obama and Duncan took it a step further to congratulate Rhode Island for the mass firings of teachers in a high school who had had no individual evaluations. What they produced in the past dozen years was a degree of disruption and chaos in the public schools unprecedented in American history. Never have we permitted “public schools” to operate for profit; never have we permitted non educators to collect public money to educate students in lieu of public schools. Never before has our government imposed mandates to evaluate teachers by student test scores (no other nation does it, and not surprisingly, it doesn’t work). I have never written about Wendy Kopp’s husband’s income; if I knew it, I would not publish it. I am not interested in your income either. I think it is entirely legitimate to criticize any policy maker for his or her decisions. That is not bashing. That is freedom of speech and free discussion. Why don’t you call on pundits and politicians and elected officials to stop teacher-bashing? They are not merely commenting, they seek to deprive hard-working, dedicated professionals of their livelihood; they defame them; they impose nonsensical evaluation schemes designed to harm their reputations and cut short their careers. I find that offensive. I think it is entirely appropriate to criticize them, as I and others on this blog do. Not for their personal lives, but for their harmful actions that hurt children, undermine education, and harm educators.
All my comments were on this particular item “How the Obamas Opted Their Children Out of High-Stakes Standardized Tests”. That is your byline to introduce Alan Singer’s column and provide some legitimacy for his views. That means that you agree with his comments. Since you are somewhat of an authority in these circles, your stamp of approval goes a long way. I believe that you have no means to ascertain if the Obama’s opted their children out of high stakes testing. Since you have always claimed that both Bush and Obama administrations are the architects of high stakes testing, I would think they would support their beliefs by including their children in such undertakings. I cannot agree with such unsupportable writings (you may call it free speech, but I do not).
Other comments on this item, i.e., Obama, Bush the worst presidents; Wendy Koop’s husband’s income, etc. were the ones I also commented. I still believe that those comments do not belong here.
I stated, “Besides Obama and Bush causing the most damage to public schools cannot be proven and is not the point of discussion here.” There is no documented evidence that the American K-12 school system has been harmed the last 14 years by the administration’s (Bush and Obama) policy. Our international standings are about the same; our higher education systems have not stated any lowering of the quality of students from K-12 public/private schools entering the universities; the “high stake testing” is just starting and has not yet impacted our kids entering universities.
Besides the Federal government provides about 12% of the overall spending on K-12 education and mostly to level the playing field, i.e., make per student spending more equal through out the United States.
I would like to see peer reviewed publications where such damage caused by the administrations is estimated and documented.
Raj,
I am a historian of education, you are a professor of computer science. From my own vantage point, I declare this the worst era in the history of American education. Never before have so-called reformers, in league with the U.S. Department of Education and the President, and the richest “philanthropists,” sought to privatize large numbers of public schools. Never before have our teachers been so disrespected. Never before has the federal government had the effrontery to push an invalid scheme on the states to “evaluate” teachers by test scores. I could go on with all the other “never befores.” I have been a historian of education since 1975–40 years. This is a time of unnecessary disruption and chaos inflicted on children and teachers and schools. Period. If you don’t like what you read here, go somewhere else. Your choice.
“Since you have always claimed that both Bush and Obama administrations are the architects of high stakes testing, I would think they would support their beliefs by including their children in such undertakings.”
But that’s the point right there – they don’t. If Obama and Bush really believe in what they’re pushing on the rest of the country, why don’t they lead by example and look for schools for their own kids that uses such methods? Why aren’t Sasha and Malia enrolled in KIPP? And please don’t talk to me about security – Amy Carter went to public school – I think KIPP could handle a couple first children. There’s a word for do as I say, not as I do – it’s on the tip of my tongue… starts with h… give me time, I’ll think of it….
BTW, Raj, I do appreciate you putting your cards on the table regarding free speech. Glad to know you think that criticizing our Dear Leader should be forbidden, comrade.
You’d have to be “The Pinball Wizard” not to see (or hear) any evidence of the damage that has been done in
“The Era of Arne Err”
This decade, let’s be clear,
Is “Era of Arne Err”
No education here
Just testing, VAMs and fear
Given that Wendy Kopp’s husband is on the Board of the KIPP charter chain financed with public dollars, founded and largely staffed by TFAers, the size of his bank account is most certainly relevant, despite efforts by people like Raj to misdirect and shame people into silence.
Additionally, Raj trots out a common trope used by so-called education reformers (and abusers in general), whereby their actual behavior – closing and privatizing schools, scapegoating, demeaning and lowering standards in the teaching profession, monetizing students, destroying local democratic control, etc. – is ignored, but criticism is decried as “uncivil.”
Not only are the so-called reformers not “civil” in their behavior, they are in fact (whether aware of it or not) vandals and looters of a public good, or proxies and apologists for the same.
Working to destroy the social contract, which is what so-called education reform does, in service of a command-and-control system that places a dollar sign on everything, is hardly “civil” behavior.
Thank-you. I’ve been teaching for 26 years. I currently teach kindergarten. You should see the SLO (Student Learning Objective) test that I have to give my kindergarteners next week. The state of Georgia, in their infinite wisdom, came up with the term Student Learning Objective, realizing too late that it spells SLO. How appropriate. Anyway, next week’s test is hilarious when you read it, knowing what I know about five year olds & seeing it from their point of view. It is also ridiculous and sad. I so wish Bill Gates would come and administer that test for me next week so he could get a taste of what he & others are causing our students to go through. Testing isn’t educating, but it’s all we seem to do anymore. Even in primary school. To make matters worse, our new “teacher evaluation instrument” is convoluted and makes little sense. We are observed 6 times a year and downgraded if our lesson plans aren’t done just so, no matter that they are MY lesson plans. Here’s the real kicker: we must have our “I can” statements clearly posted, taking up valuable wall space, and we must refer to them and chant “I can….. ” do whatever ridiculous, age inappropriate objective set aside for us to “teach them.” I said the “I can” statements with my students a couple of times, realized how utterly useless they are, and haven’t done it since. It’s bad enough that I have to have them posted. My principal has told me that I live in a world of “butterflies, birds, and rainbows” and that I “do my own thing.” I’m glad she’s finally figured that out.
Raj, you are free to look away. I am free to blog.
“Freedom of Speech”
Freedom of speech for me
Is really an amendment
Freedom of speech for thee
Is really an offendment
It’s not such a beautiful day in Mr. Raj-ers neighborhood.
Raj, I am not going to be so civil. At least not with you, anyway.
Your desire to censor other people’s thoughts is almost as bad as your English. Of course, I offer my uncivil commentary on your usage of language and absolutely nothing more than that.
Go back to school, but make sure it’s not one driven by reformers because you’ll want to get a decent education.
Immerse yourself in the mastery of verbiage, syntax, and structure. I bet you’d be good at it with some effort.
Since the rest of your cognitive functions are not so healthy, try improving language first as a stepping stone . . . .
Please don’t’ disappoint us, Raj. We’re counting on you.
We have such high hopes for you . . . .
I don’t always agree with MathVale but when I do? I celebrate; stay blogging my friends!
Recently, as Congress worked on reauthorizing the ESEA, Obama threatened to veto legislation that did not mandate yearly standardized testing. He made that threat even as his own kids go to a school that does not have such testing.
He has no problem subjecting other kids to something that he would never subject his own children to. At best, he’s a hypocrite. At worst, he may be a dirty politician who has taken money from the testing companies to mandate their product. There. I’ve said it.
Last week I was listening to our RSP teacher describe what some of our mildly autistic children were going through as they were trying to take the SBAC test. These sweet children were literally suffering. This is nothing short of legalized child abuse.
Obama’s kids, and the kids of other privileged folk don’t have to endure this. Good for them. But what do we do for the kids of the 99 percent? We teachers have been fighting this for years, and to no avail. We’ve been so thoroughly and successfully vilified that no one listens to us. I’m glad that our nation’s parents are standing up now and fighting this. May God give them the strength to see this fight to the end. Our kids’ mental and emotional well-being depends on it.
Who are you the blog nazi? People have opinions and this is America. If you don’t like a diverse array of comments or opinions then head to Cuba where you can enjoy a saturated dose of controlled propaganda. By the way what you claim cannot be proven is an obvious fact to anyone who has been a teacher within the last decade or so.
Raj, who are you to dictate what people post and don’t post here? If you have a blog that invites public opinion, perhaps on your blog you can dictate what people feel and/or believe and/or can prove, and can remove the comments that infuriate you. Meanwhile, please don’t tell anyone here what they can or cannot post and/or feel. You come here and like to stir the pot and point your fingers. Go away Raj. We do fine here without you. Diane Ravitch is far top kind and diplomatic to shoo a fly away, but I state to you, shoo fly. Fly away.
too kind. far too kind……
You’re right about that . . . .
The Obamas take their right to opt out for granted. It’s privilege exclusive to them. Many teachers and students don’t. I wouldn’t be surprised since this is the president who just let Washington experts tell him exactly what they want him to do without any skepticism since he took the office six years ago. Pretend he is victim. Pretend he is incapable of fixing things in Washington and around the nation. That’s why many people are distrusting him, if not racist..
It’s good to be King…..
There comes a time when educated people, interested in a civil discourse on important issues, choose to ignore the loudmouth who just wants to hear his own voice. Mr. Rendo, consider yourself ignored by your betters.
I apologize to you, my Very Best Better.
We less better folks can get really carried away.
You would have been an excellent advisor to the French peasantry while overthrowing the monarch during the French revolution. You do know the king and Marie were considered to be the utmost of civilized: art, dress, music, dance, food.
Civility is for the overclass, and for the rest of us in the neither-class, the working class, the underclass, and the impoverished class, civility and its velvety voice have increasing competition from sharp tongues.
I do fear that the civil and even quiet mouths, Kris, have also never squeaked loudly enough because they have not been thinking or opposing effectively enough for the past 30 years.
Goodness, Kris, you would hate to be a member of British Parliament, where loud mouth discourse is the norm.
The overclass have been anything but civil as they have targeted teachers with as much precision as Hitler targeted key populations in Germany and spread vicious lies and falsities about them in order to get the general public to hate them.
Let me know when you retire and collect your pension from the language police. In the meantime, I choose to be loud and clear at this point, because it’s the only language the reform movement and Obama excusionists seem to understand.
I seem to have struck a nerve with you.
That was satisfying. I sense you are an ally, but allies don’t have to agree on everything.
To Mr. Rendo and anyone else who believes I am hypersensitive. You are probably right, and there are two reasons why. First, any forum for new information, and the repartee of differing opinions, are luxuries for thinking people. Seeing that conversation devolve into crude remarks is just sad. Second, I hold professional educators to a higher standard. Maybe I shouldn’t.
The real challenge, though, is rescuing American public education from the corporations, and their legislative minions, that aim to suck profits from our children’s schools. On that, I think we all agree.
“Civil”
Civil is
As civil does
Civil gist?
Or civil buzz?
I’ll take the “civil buzz” for $200!
Me: Thank you, Alex Trebek! U-m-m-m-m-m . . . . . What is “Acceptable levels of aggression to fight egregious injustices to democracy versus civilized tones to conduct discourse” ?
Trebek: Correct! Go again!
Me: I’ll take “Enraged educators who are hypersensitive and get too readily offended by other impassioned educators who have the same rage.”
Trebek: This poster’s name starts with a ‘K’ “, and one is likely to owe an important message to this person.
Me: What is “Kris, I apologize and did not mean to alienate an ally and I will watch my tone” ?
Trebek: Correct! Go again! . . . . .
Yes, more administratorss are on board now, especially in NY State–our new evaluation system has given test scores twice the power as they to determine their future staff!
“The Pretender” (apologies to Jackson Browne)
I’m going to rent a big White House
In the shade of the cherry tree
Going to bail big banks in the morning
And meet with William Gates each day
And when the evening rolls around
I’ll think of ways to lay those teachers down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I’ll get up and do it again
VAM them
Say it again
VAM them
They wanna know what became of the changes
They waited for me to bring
They were only the fitful dreams
Of some sappy mistakening
I’ve been aware of the tests gone awry
They say in the end it’s the wink of an eye
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I’ll get up and do it again
VAM them
Caught between the longing for VAM
And the struggle for the legal tenure
Where the Pearsons sing and the charters ring
And the junk (stat) man pounds the mentor
Where the teachers dream of the flight
From the test and the VAM and the spite
And the students solemnly wait
For the testing vendor
Out into the lights and the cameras
Strolls the Pretender
He knows that all their hopes and dreams
Begin and end there
Ah, the panic as they run through the schools
Leaving nothing but to testing and fools
And tear at their world with Pearson tools
While the ships bearing their dreams wreck on the shoals
I’m going to find myself a Race
That can show them what Duncan means
And we’ll fill in the missing pieces
In each other’s rate-by-number schemes
And then we’ll put our dark glasses on
And we’ll VAM them till their strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in
We’ll get up and do it again
VAM it up again
I’m going to be a happy President
And struggle for illegal tenure
Where the fads take aim and lay their claim
At the heart and the soul of the mentor
And believe in whoever may lie
’bout those schools that money can buy
Though school love could have been a contender
Are you there?
Say a prayer for the Pretender
Who started out so young and strong
Only to surrender
Say a prayer for the Pretender
Are you there
For the Pretender?
Say a prayer for the Pretender
Are you there
For the Pretender?
Are you there
For the Pretender?
Another TAGO!