Two recent events show that parents, teachers and elected official are standing against academically unhelpful, developmentally inappropriate, psychologically invasive and expensive tests. That movement is spreading across the country, this time to Colorado.Analogous to what happened in Lee County, the Colorado Springs School Board for District D-11 voted unanimously to seek a way to opt out of the PARCC test, the statewide assessment used in that state to measure compliance with Common Core. The resolution will only test the minimum number of students and parents will be able to opt out. According to television station KOAA, the concerns were mostly and rightly about lost instructional time: The District's resolution regarding state mandated testing would mean students and teachers can focus more on education and life skills in the classroom and spend less time preparing for standardized tests. It's designed to give the district flexibility in the classroom......In a daring move, all seven board members gave a resounding "yes" at Wednesday's meeting, in favor of not giving all students the state tests Partnership of Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS)."I know that i've heard from community members over the last several years, whether it be parents, whether it be teachers whether it be principals that we seem to test more than we teach," said Dr. Gledich.The resolution asks the State Board of Education to allow D-11 to only test a random selection of students with PARRC and CMAS during the next three years, enough to meet the federal minimums. Parents would be able to opt-out or opt-in their students for the tests, Dr. Gledich said.
As with the Lee County vote, parents came from all over Colorado in support and were thrilled at the support of parents' rights:
"I'm so excited that D-11 has taken a stand," said Sarah Sampayo, who's children attend Lewis-Palmer District 38 schools. Read more