Poll: Is the controversy over PARCC overblown?
Parents concerned about their children having to take the Partnership of Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exam commonly known as PARCC grow by the day.
Districts all over the state are getting little to no guidance on what to do if parents want their children to opt out of taking the test.
And why the necessity of taking the test?
As part of the “No Child Left Behind” Act signed into law in 2002, - Michael Yaple, communications director for the state Department of Education, said the law stipulates that the tests must be administered – but what the district does with opt-outs is left to the district itself.
NJASK and HSPA (the high school test) are the statewide assessments that New Jersey gives to comply with the federal requirements under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), first established in 2002,” “As such, it is the Department’s expectation now -- as it has been since 2002 -- that students will participate in the testing programs.”
And then the 95 percent figure comes up again. Schools are required under No Child Left Behind to show that 95 percent of the students have participated in the test – or lose funding.
In other words, sit in front of a computer for however many hours or do something else in school should a student be considered “disruptive.”
Should the student not show up at all – he or she will be marked absent – either excused or unexcused.
One Manalapan parent wrote me the following:
I am the administrator and head of Manalapan-Englishtown Cares About Schools, a group of 325 parents in the Manalapan district who are against the education reforms forced upon our schools by the state and federal governments.
Parents have submitted refusal letters to our Superintendents office and were told that no refusal will be allowed and that if the kids come to school they will be expected to take the test. (I have attended) our Board of Ed meeting requesting, for the 3rd time, for a humane refusal policy and alternative educational activities planned for those students whose parents have refused the test on their behalf.
PARCC administration manuals state that students who refuse are considered "non-testing" students and are not allowed in the testing room. Yet our district is insisting our kids stay in class and read, stay home, or get picked up during test times, go to lunch at McDonalds and then come back after testing is done. Other districts like Bloomfield, Delran and Robbinsville have all published humane refusal policies.
Over the last few days we’ve talked about this, one thing has been made clear. Governor Christie wants the test – any test - to be administered, at the risk of parents saying “we’re not doing our jobs” – and the excuse that it’s stressing students out isn’t valid – saying in effect that we’ve all taken standardized tests and we’ve survived.
However on the PARCC test alone, he’s waiting for his commission to get back to him on the proper course of action.
Watch:
Funny he brings that up, because one caller who didn’t want to get on the air last night, accused me and parents protesting PARCC that we were causing our kids to “fail.”
Are kids really stressed or is this some kind of excuse not to take the test?
If there's stress at all, it probably has more to do with class time being used to get ready for the test; the amount of time used to take the test itself; questionable business practices by the company administering the test; etc.
“It’s too much, it’s 10 days of testing in a 180-day school calendar year; that’s a large percentage.” “And there is also all the time in getting kids ready to take the test, and it’s also extremely expensive, not only direct to the state paying $25 per student, whatever it is, but also to the schools.
“Parents are upset. Clearly there’s a large number across the state; there’s something there, we all kind of get it. All the parents should really get involved, and they should go onto the PARCC site and take the PARCC practice exam and see how ludicrous the exam truly is.”
Is this part of the mentality Governor Christie alludes to when he said we live in a society where "every kid gets a trophy;" or are there real concerns with the test itself.
I’ve said it before – follow the money!
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