Not-so-veiled threat to FL parents who opt out of testing.

[madfloridian]

Last edited Fri Apr 25, 2014, 03:17 PM - Edit history (2)

Guess school officials wouldn't dare to just come out and say to parents that their child would be punished for opting out of the FCAT by not allowing them to take a field trip to Lego Land.

So they try to be vague. It's still pretty obvious.

Opting Out Of FCAT Can Have Consequences

But opting out might still come with some consequences. A parent forwarded us a letter sent home from school about an upcoming field trip:
A letter sent home warning parents their student may not be able to attend a field trip if they miss the FCAT.


A letter sent home warning parents their student may not be able to attend a field trip if they miss the FCAT. Courtesy of an anonymous source

The message may not say “Take the FCAT or else!” but that’s how this parent interpreted the note.

It’s one reason parents will push lawmakers to allow opting out of the new Common Core-tied exam which begins in 2015. Advocates are also pushing to make it easier for students with disabilities to be exempted from the test if there is a compelling medical reason.

[madaboutharry]

1. I smell a lawsuit brewing.

[Pisces]

2. Opting out should not be an option. Why should parents and kids be rewarded for not participating in

State testing. Sorry I don't agree with you. My kids have been on a core curriculum doing Singapore math
since kindergarten. THis is very similar to Common Core. It is a great curriculum. The only issue I see is making sure
that the teachers are trained properly on how to teach the curriculum correctly. Why is everything such a fight
in any changes to education? We are obviously not on the right track. I guess we should throw up our hands and
do nothing.

Naysaying only gets you so far. The most popular argument is eliminate poverty. How about we raise unicorns and
find some dragons. This utopian catch all phrase undercuts the fact that we have to do something now. Poverty is
never going to be eradicated and those fixes take a long time. WHat about the students of today. What can we
do for them to get them better prepared with or without the parents help. Parental involvement is a very big
part of the success of the student, but that is also not going to change overnight. How can we impact the children
now with what we can control in the school environment.

We need to be more realistic and do what we can, not what we wish on star would happen.

[madfloridian]

3. The test IS the curriculum. Only it's a secret one dictated by testmakers.

This kind of testing is not about being accountable. Do you realize these tests supercede teacher grades, honor rolls, portfolios, everything else? Hopefully some colleges won't look at things that way....but for now it is devastating.

The results of this new narrowed curriculum which no one really knows until test day are used right now to hire and fire teachers, determine their pay, retain students, place them in remedial classes...yes, even honor students can end up there.

There has always been standardized testing. Always. But before the education "reformers" it was used to evaluate where the students were, and to give teachers a guideline of sorts.

There has always been accountability for teachers. Don't fall for the propaganda.

We can agree to disagree.

[Pisces]

6. I don't thnk any honor roll student will be put in remedial classes due to the testing. THis is

hyperbolic at best. As far as teacher pay or student retention is concerned if everyone is forced to do it where
will they go? The Core curriculum is not terrible, in fact when taught properly kids thrive on it. I know that not all
kids are the same, but I have experienced the Core curriculum and it has been great for my kids. I can only
give my opinion based on my personal experience.

The main issue I see is for kids in 4th grade and higher because they did not receive the foundation. The other issue is
that if the teachers have not gone through the training on curriculum implementation they may struggle therefore
impacting the children.

Propaganda is something you read and hear. I live it every day in my school and it is not the boogeyman. My children
and their friends love school and all of the interesting things they are learning. We will see next year what the test
looks like. I won't be lighting my hair on fire until I see how the testing is done and what the outcome is.

We can not continue to bash new ideas without having a replacement idea. Our schools are failing our children and this
is not a hypothetical. Doing nothing is not an option.

[madfloridian]

25. I have written about it. Happened a lot. You must mean Core Knowledge, not Common Core.

FL has had it happen more than others.

Are you talking about Core Knowledge? I taught that. I thought it had great possibilities, but at one point our county wouldn't let the teachers have textbooks. We had to go and find other info on it. We worked as teams and finally brought together the stuff the textbooks already had organized.

The Common Core is not really in play yet, just getting started.

Core Knowledge is different, has been around a while.

[Skip Intro]

30. Opting out should absolutely be an option.

We are not property of the state.

Our children are not property of the state.

[madfloridian]

32. Thank you. Yes, it should be an option. See my links from google search...

on "parents, opt out, testing"


https://www.google.com/search?q=parents+opt+out%2C+testing&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US#q=parents+opt+out,+testing&rls=org.mozilla:en-US&tbm=nws

Amazing.

[Pisces]

33. More hyperbolic talk. No one said they were the property of the State. You don't get to opt of

sending them to school. If you don't you still need to home school. These are minimum standards that we should expect
and further more want our children to know.

I do think we have a right to test kids to know where we stand. Things are not going well for us in the education department. This is not inflammatory. We have been taking standardized testing in the US for 50 years. What is the
problem in 2014 that now people think they can opt out.

[Peregrine]

4. Most schools do something like this

Part of the school grade is based on FCAT participation, 100 pts. Many times this can mean the difference between letter grades. Schools to try to get 100 pts will hold contests, raffles, special field trips ... One year a school I taught at missed an A by two points, we only had 94% participation, 20 more students would have gotten us an A, maybe. Kids who skip FCAT, generally are not the better scorers.

[madfloridian]

5. Opt out is happening more and more.

People are realizing the harm being done by one size fits all.

[Pisces]

7. In your day and my day in school, we were all required to climb the tree. How did you do?

If there are not mandatory standards the bottom gets left behind and you know it. There will always be options for those
at the top and the upper middle. Our bottom children can not continue to compete in a world that they do not
understand or connect with. A common curriculum ensures that we have some equal footing.

I really don't understand such visceral push back on this new curriculum.

[hobbit709]

9. The new curriculum is the testing, not the material taught.

When the majority of a teacher's time is spent in teaching the test, they're not teaching the actual material.

[madfloridian]

13. The "new" curriculum is being forced on schools by testmakers.

There are so many mandatory standards they are coming out of the ears of educators. There have always been.

Wonder why people don't realize that when you require elephants and fish to climb trees, they will fail. Their scores will be part of the overall scores as will those of the seal and the penguin.

The tests are geared to failure, not success.

This is a hostile takeover of public education by private companies. It is being hastened along by Arne Duncan, close friend and confidant of the president....and very talented basketball player.

There are standards, but there have always been exceptions. Now there are not.

[winter is coming]

14. In my day at school, we didn't take standardized tests every single year, and lose

half of the spring semester's instructional time prepping for tests. We took the tests cold, and only lost 1-2 days of instructional time every two or three years. My kid gets a lot of extra reading done every spring because first they do review packets, then they do practice tests, then they do more review packets, then they do the real tests. It's insane and incredibly wasteful.

[Pisces]

17. Our school took the test cold. There was no teaching to the test. We are a Core Knowledge school.

I think people don't like change and want to be against people they don't like. The Core curriculum from my experience
is great. It may be hard for kids older than the third grade who have no foundation, but it is interesting material.

The hair pulling and hyperbolic talk about this curriculum and testing has me wondering if there is an agenda here.
I don't understand why people are so against it. We need to help kids today and they need to compete with others
that have the same base knowledge. Hoping that poverty goes away, that parents become more involved is not helping
students this minute.

Being against Common Core has united the far right and the far left. Both are against it. That makes me think that more people in the middle will like it.

[winter is coming]

19. That makes me think that people in the middle don't know much about it,

and don't understand that testing and education are being viewed as potential profit centers, not something contributing to the strength of American infrastructure. Demanding that kids meet certain metrics isn't about helping the kids, it's about the metrics. I don't think it's a coincidence that the more we focus on metrics, the worse the test scores become. This is just a different label slapped on NCLB.

[madfloridian]

23. I hate it when people assume that those of us in the trenches for decades are stupid.

Or that we have ulterior motives.

The only ones right now who don't care about the needs of the students are the ones who have the money to takeover public schools and make them their own.

Teachers care, parents care. The new talking points about bad teachers and bad schools are meant to demean so they more easily can turn public education into private systems.

[justanaverageguy]

8. I think more is being read into this than there is...

If one has opted out of the FCAT test they wouldn't need to attend the make up test session anymore than the original session in which they opted out of right? So they will still be free to Lego Land.

They way I read it was "hey, if you miss a test session the make up session could be on the same day as the Lego Land trip".

Although, I must admit I didn't know that opting out of the FCAT was an option.

[hobbit709]

10. I bet there wasn't any mention of this on the trip consent form

[justanaverageguy]

12. No probably not, but not because of some intent to punish

Field trips like these are typically planned months in advance. I'm sure when the consent forms were typed they didn't think about how this field trip might conflict with the FCAT make up dates.

But again, I have to ask, why would someone who opted out of the FCAT be concerned about being able to attend a make up session? They friggin opted out of the test, they don't have to attend the make up session. Who this really matters to are those that are taking the FCAT but for some reason or another they missed one of the sessions and now have to make it up. That date may or may not fall on the same day as the field trip. There are only like 3 weeks left for my kids, there are only so many days remaining to make up missed test and there is a lot of stuff going on to cram in before the end of the year.

[winter is coming]

15. Testing dates, include make-up testing are also planned months in advance.

So either the field trip was deliberately scheduled against a testing date (stupid, as a small percentage of kids are likely to be sick on testing day) or the district is blowing smoke.

[madfloridian]

11. Actually this is a movement started by fed up parents.

Parents who realize that teachers are not to blame for everything, and that their children are being pushed to the limit and stressed out by constant test practice and the all important test day.

After all, everyday work and tests on subject matter taught are vital.

I fully expect folks here to disagree. But then again, someone has to point out that these tests are the mechanism that is destroying public schools and turning them over to private companies.

Since it is Obama's policy, of course people here disagree with me.

That's okay. Some day I will be proven right, and what a tragic day that will be for us all. The deregulation of education will work no better than deregulating businesses and banks.

[Pisces]

18. Standardized testing has been around for 50+ years!! This has nothing to do with whether we like

Obama or not. THis is about our children are unprepared, and not getting what they need at school. We need to change.
Why is this an outrage. Your suggestion is do nothing. Eliminating poverty and getting parents engaged is not going
to happen. We still need to help children who want to learn by giving them better tools and equal opportunities.

Our school took the standardized test cold. We do not teach to the test. We don't have to. The kids are learning what
they need to apply to any test given. Reasoning and problem solving. I think you feel this is blame the teacher
issue, when it is about getting kids some better education.

[madfloridian]

24. The rush to charters and vouchers is not about a better education.

It is about profit.

I could post link after link for you, but it won't matter at all. Your mind is made up and that is your right.

Have a nice day.

[Pisces]

26. No my mind is open to see what happens. It is your mind that is closed. We are not talking about

charters. We are talking about Common Core testing. Are the two now the same?

[madfloridian]

27. Did you this post of mine? My mind is not closed. It is aware of the takeover.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024870709#post25

[Pisces]

20. More like right wing conservatives against anything with federal or Obama in the sentence. Home

schoolers who don't like big government. This is just crazy. Let's see what they don't know.

[FarCenter]

16. We should probably have a separate track and tests for children unable to succeed at Common Core

Students who are unprepared, lack self-discipline, are unmotivated or unprepared should be provided with a suitable alternative curriculum and testing.

Conversely, students with high ability, discipline, motivation, and supportive home environments should be provided with an accelerated and challenging curriculum and testing.

[madfloridian]

21. Also students with learning disabilities, mentally or physically challenged....

should have adaptations.

In our district we have had programs in place for many years for the high ability students.

There are some students who simply can not function like the so-called average person. They simply are unable to perform at a certain dictated level. That used to be understood until the zero tolerance and one size fits all policies were enacted.

We always believed that students were different. We started with them where they were and took them as far as they could go. That is not allowed anymore.

[winter is coming]

22. We should probably take a step back and look at how the tests are being used and

whether they measure something meaningful. Schools are under a lot of pressure for their kids to do well on these tests, but does taking the test actually help the student? At all? Do teachers really need multiple days of formalized testing to know which of their students are struggling? If a student is excelling, is the test even necessary? If a student is struggling, will the test help them not to struggle in the future?

To me, it looks like we spend a lot of time collecting numbers for the sake of collecting numbers, but it's not at all clear that collecting those numbers has squat to do with improving the quality of the education our kids receive.

[FloriTexan]

28. Kick

[mia]

29. I hope more parents do this.

Thanks for the post.

[madfloridian]

31. I think they will. Look at my google search results on "parents, opt out, testing"

https://www.google.com/search?q=parents+opt+out%2C+testing&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US#q=parents+opt+out,+testing&rls=org.mozilla:en-US&tbm=nws

I think the stress is building, and as Common Core gets full steam ahead....it will just get worse.

When they see the tests are geared not to success, but to failure...more will opt out. It is becoming a national movement, though slowly.

[Pisces]

34. This will not become a movement. Fringe people will opt out, spend your energy pushing for a better

solution instead of bashing a new idea. The Core Knowledge curriculum goes hand in hand with the Core Standards.
Here is a link to the Core Knowledge website that fully supports the Core Standards. I have personal experience with
this curriculum and it is great. You yourself say that you have taught this curriculum. Expecting kids to learn critical
thinking skills and writing skills should not be something that is belittled.

http://www.coreknowledge.org/ccss

Please review the link. This is a curriculum that I fully support having experienced how well it works. The children in our school are not taught to any test. They are taught this curriculum and then given the test cold. Somehow they manage
to do well when you are taught the right things to begin with.

[madfloridian]

36. It's a good curriculum, but Common Core testing does not begin in full until 2015.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/03/21/26fieldtests_ep.h33.html

It is being fieldtested now.

Your point is good about Core Knowledge, but you must be referring to other standardized tests.

[Pisces]

35. Those interested please click on the Core Knowledge curriculum site I have attached that supports

Common Core standards. I have experienced this curriculum before the Common Core Standards even existed and it
is a wonderful curriculum.

http://www.coreknowledge.org/ccss

[Kermitt Gribble]

37. Jeb Bush shares your love of Common Core.

I'll listen to what the teachers have to say about it.

[Pisces]

38. Common Core had bipartisan support not just Jeb Bush. I don't champion it, I like Core Knowledge

Curriculum which is a great curriculum, lauded by teachers.