Can we opt out of the MSA?

[Anonymous]

Here's a good letter that NY parents have used to request that their children not be administered the state tests. Apparently the DOE in NY has allowed students to be scored as "Refusal" (score 999, not 0) on the state tests. The refusal score still counts as a "non pass" for school accountability, but at least it allows the school to be able to show how many iof its students didn't pass due to refusing to take the test, not sure to failing the test.

http://unitedoptout.com/state-by-state-opt-out/new-york

[Anonymous]

I think we should boycott the MSA until someone does something about 2.0. This new curriculum is really awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think we should boycott the MSA until someone does something about 2.0. This new curriculum is really awful.

Yeah!! My kid is never taking the MSA again!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think we should boycott the MSA until someone does something about 2.0. This new curriculum is really awful.

If you don't want to take the MSAs, then there's a point of agreement between you and Joshua Starr!

[Anonymous]

as a parent and also an organizer for United Opt Out i am generating an opt out group for Maryland (and ajoining states interested). Yes legally ACCORDING TO THE 14TH AMENDMENT MSA is going out, PARCC is coming in--parents need to know that new forms of data collection including PRIVATE data from pre-K to grade 12 will be used to TRACK your child. Common Core and PARCC are NCLB on steroids. Schools and districts use "scare tactics" and intimidation to keep parents from opting out. for example, NOT ONE school, or teacher, has ever actually been closed or negatively affected by kids opting out. there is no evidence to support that threat. There is AMPLE evidence to how high stakes testing HARMS both our children, and public education.
When pressed to the fire, they cannot force you. Send an email to [e-mail] for more information and I will contact you directly from there.

Supreme Court Decisions and Parental Rights

Parental rights, especially in the area of education, are broadly protected by United States Supreme Court decisions. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing and education of their children.

In Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 535 (1925), the U.S. Supreme Court declared that, “The child is not the mere creature of the State: those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.”;

In recognition of both the right and responsibility of parents to control their children’s education, the U.S. Supreme Court has further stated, “It is cardinal with us that the custody, care, and nurture of the child reside first in the parents, whose primary function and freedom include preparation for obligations the State can neither supply nor hinder.” Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 166 (1944);

The U.S. Supreme Court has also recognized that the right of parents to raise their children free from unreasonable state interferences is one of the unwritten liberties protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and criticized a state legislature for trying to interfere “with the power of parents to control the education of their own.” Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 401 (1923).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Yes legally ACCORDING TO THE 14TH AMENDMENT MSA is going out, PARCC is coming in-

I am confused. I actually read the 14th Amendment quite recently, when I was looking something up, and I am certain I didn't read anything in it about either MSA or PARCC.

[Anonymous]

yes you are correct--as i typed some of my sentences got cut and pasted weirdly and i couldn't fix it!!! 14th Amendment states facts about PARENT RIGHTS to refuse the tests....PARCC and MSA are not in the 14th amendment-sorry!

[Anonymous]

Are you talking about this 14th Amendment or a different 14th Amendment?


Amendment XIV
Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2.

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.
Section 3.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4.

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5.

The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I are educators, and we're thinking of opting out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you talking about this 14th Amendment or a different 14th Amendment?


Amendment XIV
Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.


<Rest snipped for space considerations>

This is the only 14th Amendment that I am aware of. That person must have something other than the US Constitution on her mind. Thanks for posting.

[Anonymous]

I am thinking of opting out with a message at the beginning of the year that we won't be allowing it. That way there won't be a conflict of interest when teachers try to teach my child, who has an IEP, and get all stressy on him when he isn't performing for the school. The whole purpose of teaching is lost with these tests and I don't want my child exploited and pressured for someone else's reputation.

[Anonymous]

I don't know -- I'm actually excited for the new tests to come out. My kids' school has been gearing up the last semester of this year to prepare the kids for the new PARRC assessment and they are actually having the kids write 5 paragraph essays! Something they never did before in 2nd and 3rd grade, that's for sure! they taught them how to write BCRs and that was the extent of writing instruction.

[Anonymous]

is anyone with a student in mcps thinking about opting out in 2014? I have a 4th grader

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know -- I'm actually excited for the new tests to come out. My kids' school has been gearing up the last semester of this year to prepare the kids for the new PARRC assessment and they are actually having the kids write 5 paragraph essays! Something they never did before in 2nd and 3rd grade, that's for sure! they taught them how to write BCRs and that was the extent of writing instruction.

How old is your child? I first started writing 5 paragraph essays in HS. I somehow managed to do well enough in college and went on to earn 2 Master's degrees. What is the rush in education to push kids so early? Let's focus on the basics like spelling, handwriting and punctuation first.

[Anonymous]

I see someone opened up this thread again and wanted to chime in. I'm an MCPS teacher and wish parents would start to raise a fuss about taking the MSA this year. As a parent (not of a student who will be in an assessed grade) and an experienced teacher, the constant testing is frustrating IMO, but the obsession with testing is initiated at the federal level and is being pushed down. I'm not one who will opt out unless it is ever truly detrimental to her well-being (and I certainly don't anticipate that happening). However, it is absolutely ridiculous for students to take the MSA this year! It is not aligned with the current curriculum so the results are not valid. Why on earth are we wasting the learning time and the financial resources have students sit through a meaningless assessment? On a side note, with the winter so far this year, I think we can expect a few more school closings and delays before March so you're also talking about year where we are likely missing more than we typically do.

While I won't say that I think Dr. Starr is perfect or that I agree with everything he does (or doesn't do), I do respect his general philosophy on education. The parent side of me is quite pleased that he's in MCPS. I also very much respect that he has come out publicly and stated that we should not be taking this test this year.