What the UFT Should Blanket the Schools With But Won't: Three Steps to Refusing the PARCC Test:

Download this as a printable PDF to share at your school:
Three Steps to Refusing the PARCC Test

Three Steps to Refusing the PARCC Test:

• Make the decision. As a parent, it is your right to direct your child’s education.

• Submit your OPT OUT letter. See the Sample Opt Out letter below.

• During testing days, either send your child to school with alternative work, or keep them home. It’s a great time for students to pursue their own learning interests, visit museums or get caught up on some rest and relaxation.

Additional Resources

OPT OUT Guide - http://unitedoptout.com/state-by-state-opt-out-2/colorado/

PARCC FACT SHEET (The Colorado Department of Education): http://www.angelaengel.com/faq/

Sample Opt Out Letter

We are respectfully notifying _______(your child’s school) that __________(your child’s name) will not be participating in PARCC or CMAS testing. (She/He) has alternative work and is prepared to complete (his/her) studies in the library.

We fully trust ______ (student’s name) teachers and their assessment of our childs' educational progress and needs.

We support a meaningful education, one filled with passion, inquiry, research, discourse, higher-level thinking - all wonderful and essential elements of learning cultivated by the excellent teachers in _______(school district) - and those very conditions that High-stakes testing jeopardizes. When it comes to accountability, parents are the first line of defense and it is our job to advocate for our children, a quality education, and worthwhile assessments.

Signed,

PS - Please make this part of our child’s permanent file.

10 Reasons for Parents to OPT OUT of PARCC

Your child is not a guinea pig – PARCC tests are not proven reliable valid measures.

You value experiential collaborative learning – Standardized tests reinforce the lowest levels of thinking and learning.

You want more money for your child’s classroom and more time for instruction – Government mandated testing has created a 1.7 billion testing market and a monopoly for Pearson with zero return for taxpayers and zero benefits for students. By the time your child graduates from high-school they will have spent the equivalent of one full school year taking standardized tests.

You trust teachers – standardized tests are graded by temporary workers and have a long record of failures that incorrectly label students and create barriers to future opportunities.

You agree students should not be labeled at early stages in development – standardized tests are not developmentally appropriate, especially for young children. Students’ progress at different rates and have unique talents and abilities that fall outside of shaded bubble measurement tools.

You believe in an equitable education system – socioeconomic status has the highest correlation to test scores. Tying indicators of school or teacher quality to test scores incorrectly labels high-poverty schools as failing and unfairly rewards high-income schools reinforcing an unequal and increasingly divided education system.

You understand the meaning of accountability – An informed and engaged citizenry is designed to hold political representatives and government institutions accountable, not the other way around.

You recognize that parents have the right to direct their child’s education – Opting out is a means to leverage power and assert that a student’s learning should be for their own purposes.

You are committed to protecting your child’s privacy – student data is sold and shared without your knowledge or consent. Massive amounts of data and metadata are collected by these online tests; this data is currently not protected by privacy laws. Data will follow your child and be shared with third parties through federal, State and corporate agencies. The collection and unregulated distribution of the data has the potential to interfere in your child’s future opportunities for college, military and career.

You have had enough of testing and tracking – Instead of punishments and sanctions you support curriculum and assessment choices and real opportunities for students, teachers and families.

Read more.