The Telegram, a local newspaper in Worcester, Mass., is praising the vote by the Worcester School Committee to allow parents to opt their children out of the field test for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers beginning in about a dozen states on Monday. to send a letter expressing the committee’s disagreement with the state’s position that students could not opt out. Original reports characterized the nature of the committee’s action in error, and we regret our error in furthering that misunderstanding to our readers. Please see the comments for further explanation.
The state of Massachusetts says no opt-out is allowed under the state’s laws, but laws are supposed to be the servants of the people, as this action reminds us. The public schools belong to the people, but Mayor Joe Petty wants the School Committee to vote again on the motions, saying he believes they send the wrong message to the state. He hopes at the regular meeting on March 20 that the committee will reverse its own actions from March 6.
In the end, however, it will be the people—not any mayor, government, or school board, not any for-profit or nonprofit corporation, not any specific group of parents, but the people in general—who will decide the success or failure of any school program, including any set of standardized tests or the Common Core standards upon which those tests are based.
Many states, including Maryland, have legislation pending which could delay the implementation of the Common Core standards, the tests that go with them, or other school reforms, such as the use of test results to evaluate teachers and principals, narrow the curricula, or close schools.
Many of the reforms now being instituted are out of the reach of voters, and state legislatures often report they feel their hands are tied, making them unable to take corrective action on reforms they know hurt public schools.
The only reason we have opposed opting out is that we find it misdirected, a protest aimed at the public schools rather than the underlying cause or the people who can do anything about it. Change to the law is necessary, as school officials’ hands are indeed tied by those laws.
Everyone knows the laws are harmful, but as long as they remain in place, serving the small-minded among us, there’s very little anyone can do to change things. We have seen protests as putting the cart before the horse, in other words: Unless the laws change, the testing, the charters, and privatization will only get worse.
But a few social studies teachers in Maryland previewed the Telegram’s sentiments with their Baltimore Sun op-ed in November, pointing out that people must rise up to change the laws and do what’s right for children. “Rather than simply going along with such a ridiculous federal mandate, state officials should be standing up for our students,” they wrote. “State Superintendent Lillian Lowery and others have argued that our hands are tied by federal law, that to not test would endanger federal funds for education.”
The Telegram argues:
The US Constitution is silent on the matter of education, a matter which the Founding Fathers understood to be the proper business of families and communities. Massachusetts has long proved the wisdom of the Founders.
That first issue is the unprecedented and illegal wresting of the core of public education from the hands of local players. Parents, teachers, and local school boards alike must first understand that what is happening is authorized by no law, and has no basis in the Constitution.
Just as importantly, they must understand that they have the power to wrest it back. We urge them to start by rejecting Common Core and PARCC. Massachusetts should return to its own proud and successful traditions — the civil disobedience embodied by Henry David Thoreau, and the independence in public education pioneered by Horace Mann. In so doing, we can set an example for every state.
The questions are: Will Massachusetts lead, and will other states follow?
The Worcester School Committee has reversed itself on the above matter. They will not express formal disagreement with the state in terms of parents’ right to opt-out their children from the PARCC field test that begins next week, the Telegram reports.
“After two weeks of controversy and confusion, School Committee members on [March 20] revisited their previous voice vote to send the defiant letter and decided this time to instead take no action on the matter.
“But despite the procedural reversal, nothing has changed for any Worcester parents who would prefer their children not be involved in what is essentially a beta test of the proposed new exam called Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC.”
A member of the school committee has agreed with Diane Ravitch that the committee maintains that parents in Worcester have always had the right to opt-out their children from the PARCC tests, but makes it clear that the purpose of the committee’s actions this month involved sending a letter to the state expressing disagreement with the state’s position.
Writes Brian O’Connell on Ms Ravitch’s blog:
“Although the Superintendent’s letter to parents and guardians regarding PARCC did not require a vote of approval, its message is clear, and, I believe, it reflects the majority sentiment on the Committee. It states that ‘should you choose for your child not to participate in the field test, please notify your child’s principal prior to the testing date. Your child’s school will be notifying you of the testing dates soon. There will be no academic or disciplinary penalty for not participating, and appropriate accommodations will be provided during testing time.’
“Parental rights to ‘opt’ their children out of the PARCC pilot are definitely in place in Worcester.”