Archives for category: Opt Out
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Arne Duncan: Who Threatened to Cut Federal Funding to Illinois? “Not Me.”

By dianeravitch
March 17, 2015 //
45

Chicago’s superintendent of schools Barbara Byrd-Bennett wanted to delay PARCC testing. She knew the students and teachers were not ready. She proposed testing only 10% of students. The state of Illinois said it would lose $1.1 billion in federal funding if Chicago failed to participate.

Last week, Secretary Duncan was in Chicago. When asked why he threatened to cut off federal funding, he denied it.

When he arrived at a school, his driver took a wrong turn, and Duncan got out of the car and was swarmed by angry parents protesting the testing.

“Once safely inside the school, Duncan was asked about the protest outside.

“Why is his U.S. Department of Education forcing a controversial standardized test — one many parents don’t want and that Mayor Rahm Emanuel has argued is “not ready” for prime time — down the throats Chicago Public Schools?

“I’m not,” Duncan said. “The state works it out without Chicago. . . . That’s the state’s decision.”

“But isn’t the mandate being dictated by the federal government? Isn’t that what’s behind the threat to withhold $1 billion in funding that forced Chicago’s hand?

“No. You’re wrong. . . . You’re making stuff up. You don’t have your facts straight,” Duncan said.

“The secretary was asked about the parental animosity stemming from the PARCC test and the resulting protest that forced him to go through the gantlet of protesters to get into Ariel Community Academy, 1119 E. 46th Street.

““I welcome the conversation. It’s good. . . . It’s a healthy conversation to have,” he said.

“But he said, “It’s important to assess kids annually. . . . Millions of kids around the country are taking the test. We’re fine.”

“With that, a press aide to Duncan stepped in and ended the interview.”

Categories Chicago, Duncan, Arne, Funding, Opt Out, Testing

Connecticut: Victory! Parents Have Right to Opt Out!

By dianeravitch
March 17, 2015 //
17

Hooray! Jonathan Pelto reports that parents in Connecticut have the right to opt their child out of Common Core testing!

“In a published report today in the CTMirror, the Executive Director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, Joeseph Ciracoulo, has announced that superintendents in Connecticut will now recognize the right of parents to opt their children out of the unfair, inappropriate and discriminatory Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium SBAC Testing AND that students who opt out will be provided with an alternative location where they can read a book, do homework or engage in some other educational activity for the eight to eight and a half hours of the SBAC Testing.”

Eight (8) hours of testing! This is nuts!

Opt out!

Categories Connecticut, Opt Out, Parents, Testing

RI Teacher Suspended for Discussing Opt Out, Students Demand his Return

By dianeravitch
March 15, 2015 //
39

Bill Ashton, an English teacher at Jacqueline M. Walsh High School in Pawtucket (RI), has been suspended for telling students about “OPT-Out” and other aspects of the Common Core-inspired PAARC test. The students and many parents in the school are protesting his suspension.

Students of Mr. Ashton have created a Facebook page to demand his return. It is called BRING BACK MR. ASHTON.

This is a time for truth and courage. Mr. Ashton joins our honor roll for living in truth.

The Network for Public Education released a statement supporting students, teachers, and administrators who opt out or support it.

Categories Honor Roll, Opt Out, Resistance, Students, Teachers, Testing

Gene V. Glass: Can the Opt Out Movement Succeed?

By dianeravitch
March 15, 2015 //
15

Gene V. Glass, one of our nation’s most distinguished researchers, ponders whether the opt out movement can succeed in curbing the abuses of overuse of standardized testing.

 

He says that it would not take massive percentages of students opting out to disrupt the system:

 

At present, the Opt Out movement is small — a few thousand students in Colorado, several hundred in New Mexico, and smatterings of ad hoc parent groups in the East. Some might view these small numbers as no threat to the accountability assessment industry. But the threat is more serious than it appears. Politicians and others want to rank schools and school districts according to their test score averages. Or they want to compare teachers according to their test score gains (Value Added Measurement) and pressure the low scorers or worse. It only takes a modest amount of Opting Out to thwart these uses of the test data. If 10% of the parents at the school say “No” to the standardized test, how do the statisticians adjust or correct for those missing data? Which 10% opted out? The highest scorers? The lowest? A scattering of high and low scorers? And would any statistical sleight of hand to correct for “missing data” stand up in court against a teacher who was fired or a school that was taken over by the state for a “turn around”? I don’t think so.

 

Now THERE is a valuable use of Clayton Christiansen’s theory of disruption as a positive force for change!

Categories Opt Out, Testing

Connecticut: Superintendent Changes Mind on Opt Out

By dianeravitch
March 13, 2015 //
4

The superintendent in affluent Néw Canaan, Bryan Luizzi, changed his mind. A few days ago, he said that students were not allowed to refuse to take the Common Core tests. After parents objected and signed a petition, he realized that students have the right to opt out.

Protests work.

Categories Connecticut, Opt Out, Parents, Resistance

Peter Greene Responds to Those Who Mock the Opt Out Movement

By dianeravitch
March 13, 2015 //
45

Peter Greene, who apparently reads everything, has been following a Twitter thread where various people are making fun of the Opt Out movement. One of them, Mike Thomas, works for Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Educational Excellence (since Jeb is running for President, his place has been taken by Condaleeza Rice). The basic line of argument is that there are things we have to do in life that aren’t fun, and you just have to suck it up and do those unpleasant things. Peter explains to Thomas why he is wrong. 

 

What is on his list of things you have to do whether you want to or not?

 

The list includes colonoscopies, teeth cleanings, lice checks, braces, lockdown drills, and watching romantic comedies with your wife, and it’s a swell list. It’s just that the list has nothing to do with the Big Standardized Test.

 

The items on the list only occur when there is a particular reason for them. You get a colonoscopy when your doctor, a trained medical professional, says it’s time. You get braces when a trained professional says they’re needed. You go see a movie with your wife when she asks you to (though if that’s a chore for you, you have other problems). And like all the other items on the wacky list, these are annoyances you endure because you know there is some good reason to endure them.

 

The “well, you just have to suck it up and do some unpleasant but necessary things in life” argument assumes the sale. It focuses on the “unpleasant” rap on testing so that it can pretend that the “necessary” part is not in doubt. But of course it’s the notion that the Big Standardized Test is necessary that is at the heart of the opt-out movement…..

 

Writers like Thomas have been reduced to justifications like this:

 

“And that’s why I’m an opt-in on testing. I want to know how well my kid is doing in algebra. I want to know how smart she is compared to all the other kids in the state. The same goes for reading, writing and science…This information will let me know if she is on track for being first in line when the University of Florida opens its doors to incoming freshman.”

 

Is Thomas suggesting that all students everywhere should be tested so that he can brag about his own daughter? Or is he suggesting that his daughter’s teachers keep all her grades, school work and achievements a secret from him? And does he really mean to suggest that he’s an opt-in, because if that’s what he wants, I’m sure we can find support for a system where people can opt-in to testing if they wish, but would otherwise be in a no-testing default.

 

That system would have great support, but it’s not what Thomas and FEE and other reformsters and testing corporations want– they want a system in which all students are compelled to test, not one where they have a choice (though oddly enough, they are huge fans of choice when it comes to charter schools).

 

Here’s the other thing about colonoscopies and braces– the government doesn’t compel you to have them, whether your professional expert thinks you need one or not. You opt-in, voluntarily, weighing the advice of trained experts and the advantages of the procedure. You don’t need to come up with a justification for not having a root canal today– you only have one if someone (or your tooth) presents a reason to opt in.

 

It is funny. I have four grandsons. I want to know how they are doing, and I learn about it from their teacher reports. I don’t care how they compare to children their age in the rest of the state or the nation. When my sons were young, that question never occurred to me. That’s the lamest possible reason for spending hundreds of millions on standardized tests. I suppose we should let Mike Thomas’s daughter take the test, as well as those who want to, and let others choose not to.

 

 

Categories Opt Out

John Merrow’s Terrific PBS Piece on the Opt Out Movement

By dianeravitch
March 12, 2015 //
23

We are accustomed to seeing the Opt Out movement misportrayed in the mainstream media as union-led, when in fact the unions have sat on the sidelines.

John Merrow produced a fair and honest presentation of the issues in this PBS segment.

The transcript is included in the link. Merrow interviewed parents, students, critics and advocates of the Common Core standards and tests. He reports from Néw Jersey.

Categories Opt Out, Resistance, Standardized Testing

The Network for Public Education Supports Opt Out!

By dianeravitch
March 10, 2015 //
10

The Network for Public Education supports opting out of Common Core tests.

“The Network for Public Education stands in full support of parents, students and educators who choose to teach and learn about the reality of high stakes tests, opt out of high stakes tests, speak out against high stakes tests and who refuse to give those tests to students.

“Right now, in communities from the highest need to the most affluent, students, parents and educators are being punished for the courageous act of informing others about available options to opt out of high stakes tests and acting upon those options. These reprisals, often for merely learning and teaching about students’ rights, violate basic human rights and common decency.

“There is no evidence that these tests contribute to the quality of education, or help close the “achievement gap.” Since NCLB, these tests have hindered, not helped, school improvement efforts. The scores of US students in the international PISA tests have remained flat for the dozen years of high stakes testing.

“These tests, particularly those associated with the Common Core, have become intrusive in our schools, consuming excessive time and resources. These are not the kind of tests that we took when we were children. Students in grades three to eight must spend ten or more hours on testing, and enter their answers on computer keyboards. Since teachers will not see their scores for months they have no diagnostic value. They have resulted in narrow instruction and curriculum that focuses on test preparation.

“The Common Core tests, such as PARCC, SBAC and others Pearson has developed to measure the Common Core standards, have been designed to yield widespread failure for students, and thus are an inaccurate reflection of what our students are capable of doing.
Inequities in education are a real and devastating reality in our education system. High stakes tests exacerbate this inequity with their negative, disparate impact on students of color, students in poverty, English language learners, and students with disabilities.
NPE Board member Carol Burris wrote recently,

“…there comes a time when rules must be broken — when adults, after exhausting all remedies, must be willing to break ranks and not comply. That time is now. The promise of a public school system, however imperfectly realized, is at risk of being destroyed. The future of our children is hanging from testing’s high stakes. The time to Opt Out is now.”

“NPE recognizes that not everyone is in a position where opting out of the tests is a viable option. However, we strongly support those who make that decision, and we encourage administrators, school board members and elected officials to honor this choice. We encourage teacher unions to support and defend teachers taking this stand and to support members’ rights to freedom of speech when they speak out on such issues of importance.

“Most of all, we encourage all involved to circulate information and educate ourselves, each other and especially students to make decisions about their own education including around the issue of high stakes testing.

“We do not take this position lightly, but we do so in response to a testing system that has moved far beyond what is useful, and has become a force of fear and failure in our schools; a system that is now directly attacking parents, students and educators who courageously stand to defend students.

“In order to defend our students, high-stakes testing must be halted. We stand in full support of those who opt out and encourage others to do so.”

Categories Network for Public Education, Opt Out, Resistance

Seattle’s Policy on Opting Out: Not So Subtle Coercion

By dianeravitch
March 6, 2015 //
18

From a reader in Seattle:

 

 

Here’s what they’re saying in Seattle.

 

 

________ I have read and understand that:

 

 This refusal will be filed with the student’s permanent record.

 

 Students who do not participate will receive a “zero” score on the assessment and no score report for teachers or families to view.

 

 A zero will negatively impact the school’s overall results in assessments such as Smarter Balanced.

 

 Teachers will not receive results that could otherwise be used as a tool to measure the student’s academic growth in the core academic areas of reading, writing, math, and/or science.

 

 Families will not receive results that will enable them to chart the student’s growth over time.

 

 High school juniors without Smarter Balanced assessment results will not be eligible for the remedial testing waiver offered by state colleges.

 

 Students who do not participate will receive supervision but not instruction during assessment time.

 

 Students who do not receive a score for the high school state assessment in required subjects, or an approved alternative, will not be able to obtain a high school diploma.

 

We’re not taking the test. I’m phasing out of teaching now — I started in Title I schools, and am ending with charters, both physical and virtual — so I’ve reasonably little fear of reprisals against my teaching license. And keep in mind, my son attends a high-performing school (over 90% proficient), with only 5% or so FRPL. Save Seattle Schools (http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/), an excellent local blog, has offered response to each of these mendacious threats, and I believe them.

 

This enforced compliance is unconscionable for all parties involved.

Categories Opt Out, Seattle, Washington State

Vicki Cobb: More Good Reading for Students Who Refuse the Tests

By dianeravitch
March 6, 2015 //
7

Yesterday I posted a reading list for students who were not taking the Common core tests; it was created by New York State Allies for Public Education, an alliance of fifty organizations of parents and teachers. The list is predominantly fiction. As a parent and grandparent and a reader, I love both fiction and non-fiction and don’t think one or the other is “better.” What matters most is the quality of the writing, not the genre.

 

I received the following comment from Vicki Cobb, a prolific writer of science books for children:

 

I’m glad you mentioned that there was very little nonfiction on the list. To rectify that, my organization has been posting http://www.nonfictionminute.com Check it out. It’s a daily posting of about 400 words written by top children’s nonfiction authors, accompanied by an audio file of the author reading his/her essay to make the content accessible to less fluent readers. Most people do not know the names of the best children’s nonfiction authors partly because we’re cataloged and shelved by the topics we write about instead of our names–as fiction authors are cataloged and shelved. We’re hoping that if kids read a Nonfiction Minute, they just might want to read a book by the author. Nonfiction Minutes are not excerpts from our books. They are stand-alone essays to be read for interest and pleasure. They are edited by Jean Reynolds, one of the best in the business, who founded Millbrook Press and Roaring Brook Press and came out of retirement to do this. We are doing this on a totally voluntary basis, to inform, inspire, and entertain our readers. The web is great when you know what you don’t know. It’s not so good when you don’t know what you don’t know. So we are introducing children to our own individual passions. High interest trumps reading levels.

Categories Opt Out, Students
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