How to opt out of PARCC at Deal?

[Anonymous]

We haven’t experienced PARCC yet but can someone tell me why it takes 10 hours? If you can’t assess a kid in under three hours then it really is a poorly designed test. Growing up the 80s we did the CAT test and I don’t remember it ever being more than 2 hours at most.

[Anonymous]

The PARCC ES variant takes as much as 10 hours to give, more like 8-9 hours for 3rd and 4th graders, spread over 5 testing days with a 1.5-2 hour testing session on each day. Roughly two hours of the total testing time is just administrative/directions time, so really only 7-8 hours of testing. Pearsons actually shaved an hour off PARCC two years ago.

In a nutshell, the test takes a long time to administer and take because Pearsons Education says so, and OSSE bought the test from them as a product.

Pearsons USA testing wing is a $500 million+ operation these days, so lots of jobs and profits in the mix for this British corporate behemoth with London HQ.

You have the gall to question this arrangement? My god, you must be mentally ill (as pointed out on the previous page).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe this was covered earlier in the thread, but I’m here late, and I’m just wondering what the motivation is for opting out. I mean, do you think your kids will be tortured or emotionally distressed while taking the test? If they’re experiencing intense anxiety about it before the test, perhaps that points to a different problem that should be addressed? And do you care that often the most affluent, privileged families are opting out, which means that test scores will be dragged down for the remaining students who actually take the test at your school? I just don’t get it.

New poster here and I wonder the same and over the years have come to the conclusion that parents who go this ballistic over things like the PARCC have some degree of mental instability. I am stopping short of saying mental illness. The previous poster is talking about taking PARCC opposition as high as DC superior court and is risking alienating her child from teachers and administrators all in the name of avoiding a 10 hour test. Trust me, it's going to be far more harmful for her child (and her) to be known by the school as the PITA family than it is for her kid to take a standardized test. There are plenty of things that are subjective in a school---class placements, teacher placements, a whole lot of grades (writing, etc) that you just don't want to be labeled as "the crazy, PITA family. And whether or not your kid is behind it this PARCC crusade, the teachers are going to associate your child with you. I have seen people take similar battles and ultimately it's just REALLY unfair to their kids.

Thankfully, the vast, vast, vast majority of highly educated (and not highly educated and everyone in between) DCPS parents are balanced humans who realize that the PARCC has it's positives and negatives. As such, their kids sit and take the test and life goes on without a blip. I myself have 3 kids in DCPS and have found the PARCC extraordinarily useful for them to take in terms of prepping for the inevitable standardized tests that they will face later in life. My oldest just had his heart set on attending a particular "big3" private school for 7th grade. Part of the application process was taking the ISEE or SSAT which are not easy tests. However, my kid went in and rocked the test and wasn't at all phased by the format (a 4 hour multiple choice exam) because "it's just like the PARCC mom". An an extension of this, the SAT and ACTs of today are based on Common Core standards and the PARCC is actually s shadow of these exams (and is thought by many to be why in part so many kids are scoring so high on the ACT and SAT in recent years). The PARCC gives kids many years of practice with tests of this type.

Who's going ballistic? That would be you, PP. I come from a live-and-let-live Quaker family. We want nothing to do with registering for the draft, like our ancestors, and nothing to do with the corporate standardized testing for children in America's public schools.

If you support PARCC testing, finding it of great value to your family, wonderful. Nothing to stop you from embracing PARCC, celebrating it, spreading of the gospel of its merits. We know all about the PARCC yet choose to opt out via quiet non-cooperation.

The first standardized test I took in my life was the SAT (I skipped the PSAT). I scored in the high 700s on both sections, helping me gain me entry to an Ivy on massive fi aid. We don't need the PARCC to shadow anything in our family life but the lovely learning experiences we're going to privately revel in during the 10 hours we will be preserving for learning (by avoiding a test we know and reject). To each her own.

You should really consider pulling your kids from public schools because corporations are being enriched from many different directions in your kid's school all day long. For better or worse public education is just another billion $ America industry.

No, you pull your kids from public schools, hon. You sound like a sheep.

The discussion will surely be livelier, and the improvements more likely to materialize, without you and co. rooting for team corporate/DeVos MAGA.

[Anonymous]

Deal 7th graders lose seven mornings of class from 8:45 to 11:00 if everything is going well. It’s not just 10 hours.

[Anonymous]

Plus there was a testing pep rally instead of a class.

[Anonymous]

My kid hasn't taken any PARCC tests yet b/c he's too young, so I admit I'm coming from a place where I don't know much about this test. But in my own experience, there is some value in being a "good test-taker." Someone who doesn't get too nervous with the protocols of a standardized test, someone familiar with sitting quietly filling things out, pacing your time, etc. I mean, at least for myself, I'm sure I went to a better college and then better law school based largely on the fact that I am a pretty good test taker--certainly it's not perfectly correlated to smarts. So, I understand that kids don't need to be sitting through endless testing, but isn't it good for them to get experience with the process before they sit for the SATs, etc.?

[Anonymous]

If becoming a good standardized test taker was critical to future SAT, ACT, AP etc. success wouldn't the wealthy and powerful, who commonly enroll their children in pricey independent schools, be clamoring for their children to take Common Core linked-tests like the PARCC? The fact is, the rich don't bother with the time-wasting annual standardized tests public school students are forced to take, or anything like them. They've opted out as a class. Their kids generally take 2-3 hour entrance examinations for middle and/or high school, and that's about it before the SAT, possibly the PSAT.

It's nonsense that 8-11 years need to start practicing for the SAT. It's like saying, you can't become a good driver if you wait until age 16 to get behind the wheel, you need to start driving many years earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Deal 7th graders lose seven mornings of class from 8:45 to 11:00 if everything is going well. It’s not just 10 hours.

Unbelievable. Even so, like 4 Deal parents opt out. What's wrong with DC?

Proud to be from NY, where nearly one quarter of PS families have been opting out in recent years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe this was covered earlier in the thread, but I’m here late, and I’m just wondering what the motivation is for opting out. I mean, do you think your kids will be tortured or emotionally distressed while taking the test? If they’re experiencing intense anxiety about it before the test, perhaps that points to a different problem that should be addressed? And do you care that often the most affluent, privileged families are opting out, which means that test scores will be dragged down for the remaining students who actually take the test at your school? I just don’t get it.

PP. I've read a few subsequent posts, but I still don't get it--like, what's the worst that could happen? Even if you think it's a waste of time, what detrimental effect do you fear it will have on your kids? Do you worry a poor score would go on their record, or hurt their self-esteem, or what? Still not sure why all the outrage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal 7th graders lose seven mornings of class from 8:45 to 11:00 if everything is going well. It’s not just 10 hours.

Unbelievable. Even so, like 4 Deal parents opt out. What's wrong with DC?

Proud to be from NY, where nearly one quarter of PS families have been opting out in recent years.

Does NY have the same consequences as DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whoa - this thread has been interesting!

1. I agree it is obnoxious that the PARCC test appears (according to folks on this thread - but I haven't otherwise looked into it)to be an enrichment opportunity for a for-profit company (shades of De Vos - shudder). I don't like the incentives there (for a company to push testing to make money).
2. I'd like to hear more about why ten hours of testing a year is so bad? My view so far has been that there is a lot of testing in life (even as an adult, "testing" exists, just in different forms, e.g., preparing for an appellate oral argument!), and maybe it is not so bad to get early experience with it, and learn how to deal with the stress.
3. At least at my kid's school - Brent - there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of teaching to the test. Kids appear to be doing lots of interesting things and learning lots of important stuff. Plenty of field trips and projects. I don't know that ten more hours of field trips or projects instead of ten hours of testing would be better for the kids' development.

Have you taken a sample PARCC test on-line? Easy to do. I recommend it.

I found the ELA section, which took me around an hour to navigate, abominable--all five hours of it--but the math OK. The several ELA sections are almost all pointless-seeming kiddie literary analysis, with so many poorly written questions and such awkward formatting that I got dizzy reading through them. But that wasn't the least appealing aspect, not for me anyway. It was this: no knowledge of facts a kid should learn is tested in any section of the PARCC (e.g. "Who was the First US President?" or "How many states are there in the USA?"). I see no point in my eight year-old answering strange, deeply dull ELA questions for 10 minutes let alone for five hours. She reads to me from books she likes almost every night, and we talk about what she reads. I can see that this insipid test will teach her to like school a little less, nothing more.

Can't stand the PARCC on any level, so opting out at our WotP DCPS. Big headache, might end up in court. Still opting out this year and plan to do so for each year we stay in DCPS as long as DCPS adheres to the crappy PARCC (dropped by 17 states since 2013, with only NJ and DC left in the club).

It isn't a fact test. It is test of how well you understand what you read and of critical thinking and reasoning skills. Very few schools these days are about rote memorization of facts (the private school forum is full of parents saying that's why they pay 50K/per kid per year because they don't want the rote learning that they mistakenly believe is happening in public school). Schools teach you how to learn, how to gather and evaluate information. These are the most important skills for this generation of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If becoming a good standardized test taker was critical to future SAT, ACT, AP etc. success wouldn't the wealthy and powerful, who commonly enroll their children in pricey independent schools, be clamoring for their children to take Common Core linked-tests like the PARCC? The fact is, the rich don't bother with the time-wasting annual standardized tests public school students are forced to take, or anything like them. They've opted out as a class. Their kids generally take 2-3 hour entrance examinations for middle and/or high school, and that's about it before the SAT, possibly the PSAT.

It's nonsense that 8-11 years need to start practicing for the SAT. It's like saying, you can't become a good driver if you wait until age 16 to get behind the wheel, you need to start driving many years earlier.

Wow, you really have NO idea what you're talking about. Do you know just how much the private school parents pay on private tutoring and test prep both for admissions to private school in the later years (the ISEE and SSAT for middle and/or high school admissions) and then for SAT prep?
I have a kid in private and it's common for parents to pay $5K to PREP their kid to take the standardized test for middle school admissions. I know kids who took the test 8 or 9 times and were tutored for 12 of 15 months on a weekly basis on the tips and tricks of standardized test taking. Pretty much everyone tutors. The city and greater DMV is filled with these test prep businesses. Ever hear of "Prep Matters in Tenleytown??? What these places are teaching is how to take standardized tests.

Also, the K-8 schools in DC (Sheridan, Lowell, etc) all teach SSAT/ISEE prep in in middle schools to help their kids take the standardized tests for high school admissions. It's part of their school day. The kids do it for months.

If you think the "rich" don't standardized test prep both in and out of the classroom you are vastly incorrect. Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If becoming a good standardized test taker was critical to future SAT, ACT, AP etc. success wouldn't the wealthy and powerful, who commonly enroll their children in pricey independent schools, be clamoring for their children to take Common Core linked-tests like the PARCC? The fact is, the rich don't bother with the time-wasting annual standardized tests public school students are forced to take, or anything like them. They've opted out as a class. Their kids generally take 2-3 hour entrance examinations for middle and/or high school, and that's about it before the SAT, possibly the PSAT.

It's nonsense that 8-11 years need to start practicing for the SAT. It's like saying, you can't become a good driver if you wait until age 16 to get behind the wheel, you need to start driving many years earlier.

Wow, you really have NO idea what you're talking about. Do you know just how much the private school parents pay on private tutoring and test prep both for admissions to private school in the later years (the ISEE and SSAT for middle and/or high school admissions) and then for SAT prep?
I have a kid in private and it's common for parents to pay $5K to PREP their kid to take the standardized test for middle school admissions. I know kids who took the test 8 or 9 times and were tutored for 12 of 15 months on a weekly basis on the tips and tricks of standardized test taking. Pretty much everyone tutors. The city and greater DMV is filled with these test prep businesses. Ever hear of "Prep Matters in Tenleytown??? What these places are teaching is how to take standardized tests.

Also, the K-8 schools in DC (Sheridan, Lowell, etc) all teach SSAT/ISEE prep in in middle schools to help their kids take the standardized tests for high school admissions. It's part of their school day. The kids do it for months.

If you think the "rich" don't standardized test prep both in and out of the classroom you are vastly incorrect. Wow.

Kaplan prep for the SAT is VASTLY VASTLY different than 10 school days spent prepping in middle school for a rote test that is being taught to.
I’m a former Kaplan prep teacher. I’ve taught at the college level. Also I have done graduate school admissions. I have lots of experience with students taking standardized tests.

Here’s what the fancy private schools do:
Private school, with almost no assessment testing in-school.
Plus, test prep classes for important assessment tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal 7th graders lose seven mornings of class from 8:45 to 11:00 if everything is going well. It’s not just 10 hours.

Unbelievable. Even so, like 4 Deal parents opt out. What's wrong with DC?

Proud to be from NY, where nearly one quarter of PS families have been opting out in recent years.

Does NY have the same consequences as DC?

Much worse consequences, supposedly. NYC routinely threatens to make kids whose parents refuse the test repeat grades. But droves of parent organize, stick together and challenge, so state always seems to back down in the end. They even changed the testing system to try to keep more parents on board, and stopped tying teacher evaluations to test scores, Here, OSSE tries to frighten parents from opting out with threats of criminal child neglect charges for pushing the limit on absences under some of the country'strictest public school attendance rules. The approach falls down for kids with excellent attendance.

We're not afraid that the kid will be harmed by taking the PARCC per se, but we see value in teaching the child to stand up for our deeply-held believe that the giant corporations shouldn't be in a position to rake in profits from parents forced to increase the bottom line for their fat cat execs through up to 10 hours of compulsory testing per year for up to 7 years.

[Anonymous]

This is the first year my kids are in DCPS from private. I asked school principal about opting-out and holy moly! It was like I was asking to murder the PreK class. It was dealt with quickly. I wanted to opt out because my DC is getting test anxiety from all pressure. They take PARCC serious!! Whispering opt out is verboten.