Colorado: Parents Oppose Excessive Testing

In their own voices, parents speak out against excessive testing and test-centric instructional environments, one by one.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sch_-7r3XPQ

Florida: Bringing Parent Activism Out of the Shadows

In Brevard County, Florida, parents are fighting to keep the public schools in their communities open as the School Board looks for cost savings by closing schools that are considered too under capacity and moving the students to schools considered with room but not in the "under capacity" definition.

These closures have nothing to do with the performance of the schools, teachers, or students. Parents are certainly involved.

Under current conditions, Florida school boards are making tough budgetary decisions.

Little notice is given to parents who support the public schools in their communities.

This news report is worth paying some attention to.

NUT Report: Photos from SOS March on D.C.

Rally at the Ellipse followed by a march to the White House. Speakers at the rally included Linda Darling-Hammond from Stanford, Diane Ravitch, Matt Damon, and Rita Solnet, one of the co-founders of Parents Across America (Florida) and others.

CNN reports on Matt Damon's participation here.

No news if the White House has accepted a rescheduling of their meeting request. More details on this event as they emerge.

States Where Parents Oppose Excessive Testing

Click on the image to see it larger. More states identified. Concern and action increase.

NUT Report: Kentucky Parents Organizing

Over 300 Fayette, Kentucky parents have formed FayetteABC as what they see as a "moral obligation and responsibility" to express their concerns over excessive testing and its impact on education.

Fayette Advocates for Balance in the Classroom™ (FayetteABC™) was founded by Erik and Cheryl Myrup and other Fayette County Public School parents concerned that test-driven instruction could compromise the quality of education in our public schools. No FayetteABC founding members have ever been employees of Fayette County Public Schools.

The group has a website and are circulating a petition circulating asking that their views be seriously considered by the local school board. The petition reads as follows:

We are concerned that our schools have become too focused on standardized testing at the expense of Kentucky's broader educational goals, which include preparing students for future employment and adult life. Please keep this concern in mind as you choose a new superintendent and pursue your own goals as a board.

We urge you to take a balanced approach to meeting educational goals. This approach should be informed by data from mandated standardized tests, but should focus squarely on ensuring that students have access to rigorous, relevant, rich instruction.

What are some signs of a system that is out of balance?

• Students spend too much time taking standardized tests and practicing skills in a testing format.
• Teachers report less time for teaching students to apply concepts, solve problems, and think critically and creatively.
• Teachers and principals are under more pressure to raise scores on standardized tests than they are to use teaching methods likely to promote deep understanding and love of learning; teachers committed to such methods may be frustrated and demoralized.
• Standardized test achievement is considered the goal of learning.
• Subjects not tested for state and federal accountability systems receive inadequate attention.

Superintendents, board members, and school personnel may all be feeling more pressure to demonstrate success on standardized tests than to monitor the unintended consequences of a test-driven system. That is why we are making our concerns known. We acknowledge and thank the many Fayette County teachers, administrators, and board members who work hard every day to ensure that our children do have rigorous, engaging, and varied learning opportunities beyond what is necessary for success on standardized tests. We realize that these efforts are not always recognized publicly, but they are preparing our children to be successful in life.

We believe that all of us truly want what is best for our children, and we expect our elected officials and our next superintendent to have the courage and the vision necessary to take a balanced approach.

Kentucky parents serve as one more example of the increasing number of parents nationwide who are expressing these concerns. While mainstream media under reports or ignores and while policy makers remain tone deaf, parents continue to step forward as a moral obligation and responsibility.

I am a NUT and stand with the parents.
NUT = No Unnecessary Tests

States Where Parents Oppose Teaching to the Test

For the last couple of weeks, I have been reading what parents have to say about schools that are no longer centers of learning, but rather centers of test preparation and testing. This map is the third update and reflects locations where parents have organized in opposition to excessive testing. Some parents have successfully opted-out, some have inquired and found it not possible, and others have decided to homeschool. There is no talk of political ideologies, the common unity between parents in these states is concern for their children's education. They are fed up with government at all levels. While parents have complained for years about teaching to the test, there is something new in this current level of dissatisfaction.

UPDATE: Leon County parent advises the middle school principal that her son will not take the FCAT. See the report below.

http://www.wctv.tv/floridanews/headlines/Can_Students_Opt_Out_of_the_FCAT_119520799.html

Education Reform: Parent Action Spreads

The highlights indicate the States where parent organizing against teaching to the test are in action. All indications suggest this is a growing grassroots movement. President Obama's recently announced proposals for changing No Child Left Behind (NCLB) are likely to fuel more action. Here are some highlights from the President's education reform plan with regard to testing:

NCLB Status Quo:  Rely on unsophisticated bubble tests to grade students and schools.


The Obama Plan:   Support better tests.  The Obama Administration has invested $350 million to support states in their efforts to create more sophisticated assessment systems that measure problem solving and other 21st century skills and that will provide teachers will timely information to help them improve instruction.

NCLB Status Quo:  A narrow curriculum focused only reading and math.


The Obama Plan:  Invest in state and local efforts to develop a well-rounded curriculum and allow states to include subjects beyond reading and math in their accountability system.


SB736 mirrors the goals the Obama Administration has in mind as educational reform. So, if you are a supporter and proponent of SB736, then you will be cheering. On the other hand, if you were concerned about the lack of details, lack of cost analysis, and continuing an obsession with tests, then things are not looking so good.


Read the President's education plan here.

UPDATE: EDWEEK reports that U.S. Department of Education spokesman Justin Hamilton "clarified" Obama's statement about too much testing, by countering it:

"While we're open to how we can best assess student progress in subject areas like history and science, we believe annual measures in reading and math are needed to assess progress toward college- and career-readiness. More must be done to improve the quality of those assessments, so that they're a more meaningful measure of student learning..."

That certainly clears things up now....clear as mud. The President prefers less, the U.S Office of Education prefers the more.

Students opt out of CPS tests

Grumpy Note;  As most of you know Sandra in Brevard has been working really hard to keep us informed about the pro and cons of Obama's RTTT Merit Pay Scheme.  As a result of her research and blogs she has contacted and been contacted by people from across the country with an interest in the subject.

One of these people was Sharon Schmidt, Sharon is the managing editor of Substance News, a Chicago publication dedicated to the teachers and the public school system.  Substance News is pro union and pro teacher, not so pro Obama or Arne Duncan.  In a comment Sharon made on Sandra's blog Parents Opt-Out of Standardized Testing, she asked people to read what she is doing to keep her own son Sam out of the tests.

The story is reprinted here with her permission and at her request. 

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Students opt out of CPS tests  Sharon Schmidt - March 06, 2011

  

For more than a year, my husband George Schmidt and I have been opting out our son Sam from the Chicago public schools’ excessive testing program. Any student may opt out of the Scantron Performance Series tests, Learning First math and reading benchmark tests, KLT tests and other CPS tests

O.A. Thorp fourth grader Sam Schmidt began sitting out
 most of the required CPS testings in third grade,
instead reading a number of books (some shown above).
 Substance photo by Sharon Schmidt

According to a March 25, 2010, letter sent to us by Barbara Eason Watkins (then Chief Education Officer), parents have the right to opt out their children. At the close of the two-page letter — which covered testing schedules, availability of copies of tests, rubrics and scoring materials, information on the Scantron Performance Series, validity, reliability and fairness studies — Eason Watkins addressed the issue of opting out. “Parents are not required to sign releases for their children to participate in any assessment,” Eason Watkins wrote. “If parents choose to exclude their children, the school has no obligation to provide an alternate activity. Your child will be asked to engage in a silent, self-guided activity

Logistics of opting out

We kept Sam at home during administration of the Scantron Performance Series in February 2010 prior to receiving the letter. Eason Watkin’s letter confirmed to us and to the principal that it is within our rights to opt out of testing and have our child remain at school during the tests.

Sam, who is now in the fourth grade at O. A. Thorp elementary school, now sits in the school office instead of taking tests. At the time he began sitting out the tests, he was in third grade.

We opted out Sam from the three-part May 2010, September 2010 and January 2011 Scantron tests. We opted out Sam from the school’s administration of the May 2010 Reading Benchmark Assessment and Math Benchmark Assessment. In addition, when a university research team came to Sam’s school in October 2010 to study a science curriculum, he skipped the pre, during and post study standardized tests the researchers administered. While he still took part in the ISAT last spring, he opted out of over 20 hours of additional testing this year. During that time he read silently from books of his choice. He also wrote and drew pictures in his journal.

Helping my son

Until I asked my son’s principal and Board officials for specific test information, I didn’t know how many tests Sam would be forced to take. Like most Chicago public school parents, I received no information. Once I learned the extent of the testing it was an easy decision to say no. The tests rob my son of the learning and joy I want him to experience at school.

Instead of laboring over unnecessary tests, he reads and enjoys and learns. 

See three additional stories:

It's the right thing to do": Q and A with Sam Schmidt

100+ unecessary tests (CPS testing schedule)

How to opt out

Editor's Note: The article above (and three others linked in this article) originally appeared in the February 2011 print edition of Substance]. 