PARCC -- What a waste. Can we opt out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would assume that most families that are trying to opt out are higher SES or have higher education parents than the majority of DCPS kids. and DCPS knows these are the kids most likely to score well on PARCC so its in DCPS' interest to make them test. I think its pointless becuase its not my kids job to bring up the test scores especially since DCPS doesn't care about higher achieving kids every other day o the year. Maybe DCPS should ask all the parents of 4th graders at Brent why they are leaving and not heading to a cap hill middle schoolr or jefferson? Maybe they should listen to parents when they ask for test in classes, not BS differentiation in the same class, or when parents ask for serious academic rigor. Maybe, just maybe, then those same parents will be around when you need to use their kid to bring up your test scores.

I'm a high SES, highly educated parent, and I WANT my child to take PARCC (and his whole school too) because A) I don't assume I know how my child is going to do and B) I want to be sure that the school is teaching everyone well, and that they address any gaps between genders, races, SES status, etc. DCPS cares about high SES students just as much as it cares about any other student, I believe. It's weird that people project so much of their parenting/financial anxieties about life in our increasingly income and race-stratified world onto DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entitlement of some DC parents it just astounding ... you ALL use PARCC as a metric to judge schools. And yet, your child is too good, too "free thinking," to take it.

I'd call it hypocrisy, but totally agree. It's galling.

I don't use the PARCC as a metric to judge schools. The white kids at my IB DCPS post the lowest scores in the city collectively outside the language immersion sphere. Even so, I bought a 900K row house so my kids could attend.

Want galling? Try forcing millions of families to take standardized tests they hate from coast to coast. There's nothing stopping objecting parents from instructing their kids to bomb the tests - it's been done all over the country where states have become heavy-handed about forcing compliance.

If you believe in the tests, and want them for your kid, go for it, celebrate it. To each her own. Live and let live. Who are you to judge?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally speaking, I think it is a good idea to get kids used to taking standardized tests. They'll be doing it for much higher stakes later on: APs and SAT

That's akin to arguing that if a kid doesn't start taking practice driving tests in ES, they won't be reading for much higher stakes driving tests as teenagers. I was a National Merit Scholarship Finalist who earned 5s on APs, and near perfect SAT scores, yet never took a standardized test before the PSAT. I also attended public schools ranked in the bottom third in my state, in the days before state testing.

If you want your kid to get used to taking standardized tests in ES, you can. Just look up your nearest Prometric Test Center (one downtown, another in Bethesda) and sign up for tests. Many K-5th grade options available, e.g. the SCAT and ACT Junior.

Why on earth would I want to take my kid to Bethesda to pay for practice tests when he can do them in school for free? And how lovely for you that you did well on your SAT and APs without elementary testing. I also did extremely well on those tests in a state with standardized elementary tests (should we dig out our scores and talk about colllege admissions and IQs?). I found the whole testing experience in high school to be not particularly stressful since I had been doing the same thing every year. That is something I would be happy to share with my children.

Because you argued that kids in DC public elementary schools need to take high-stakes standardized tests as preparation to prepare for taking the SATs and APs tests in HS. I didn't buy the argument, pointing out that if you feel your kids need practice taking standardized tests in ES, you have private options in the Metro area. I will be happy to share a standardized test-free childhood with my own children, while using my IB DCPS.

Signed,
Princeton Graduate

^^thanks Ted Cruz

[Anonymous]

A veteran Dem staffer actually. Despite Ted Cruz.

[Anonymous]

You know DC doesn't have to use PARCC for testing metrics, they can use the SAT. But for some reason OSSE and DCPS chose PARCC. Interesting choice, especially for a school system who is very "pro-college for all."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A veteran Dem staffer actually. Despite Ted Cruz.

Interesting. The Dems were the strongest backers on the Hill for this corporate testimony regime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A veteran Dem staffer actually. Despite Ted Cruz.

Interesting. The Dems were the strongest backers on the Hill for this corporate testimony regime.

.

* Correction, testing regime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A veteran Dem staffer actually. Despite Ted Cruz.

Interesting. The Dems were the strongest backers on the Hill for this corporate testimony regime.

There has been strong support, and resistance, to the 95% participation at the school level or the threat of federal funding cuts on both the left and the right. Not a partisan issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would assume that most families that are trying to opt out are higher SES or have higher education parents than the majority of DCPS kids. and DCPS knows these are the kids most likely to score well on PARCC so its in DCPS' interest to make them test. I think its pointless becuase its not my kids job to bring up the test scores especially since DCPS doesn't care about higher achieving kids every other day o the year. Maybe DCPS should ask all the parents of 4th graders at Brent why they are leaving and not heading to a cap hill middle schoolr or jefferson? Maybe they should listen to parents when they ask for test in classes, not BS differentiation in the same class, or when parents ask for serious academic rigor. Maybe, just maybe, then those same parents will be around when you need to use their kid to bring up your test scores.

I'm a high SES, highly educated parent, and I WANT my child to take PARCC (and his whole school too) because A) I don't assume I know how my child is going to do and B) I want to be sure that the school is teaching everyone well, and that they address any gaps between genders, races, SES status, etc. DCPS cares about high SES students just as much as it cares about any other student, I believe. It's weird that people project so much of their parenting/financial anxieties about life in our increasingly income and race-stratified world onto DCPS.

+1. Well said. I think the anti-test sentiment expressed here is a little bizarre.

[Anonymous]

What's bizarre to me is the determination shown on threads relating to opting out of the DC-CAS, and now the PARCC, to motivate other parents to embrace one's views on mandatory standardized testing in public schools. I'm reminded of my grandparents' view on reproductive rights and gay unions, that of "good Catholics," when I was a kid. We're right, you're wrong; we're good, thoughtful, upstanding and civic-minded, those who disagree are strange, bad, shrill and obsessive. We deserve a voice, while you should shut up and do as we, and the federal and state governments, say. Ours is not to question why. The Pope, the cardinals, the bishops etc. know best of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's bizarre to me is the determination shown on threads relating to opting out of the DC-CAS, and now the PARCC, to motivate other parents to embrace one's views on mandatory standardized testing in public schools. I'm reminded of my grandparents' view on reproductive rights and gay unions, that of "good Catholics," when I was a kid. We're right, you're wrong; we're good, thoughtful, upstanding and civic-minded, those who disagree are strange, bad, shrill and obsessive. We deserve a voice, while you should shut up and do as we, and the federal and state governments, say. Ours is not to question why. The Pope, the cardinals, the bishops etc. know best of course.

???? You've gone off the deep end on this one, my friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would assume that most families that are trying to opt out are higher SES or have higher education parents than the majority of DCPS kids. and DCPS knows these are the kids most likely to score well on PARCC so its in DCPS' interest to make them test. I think its pointless becuase its not my kids job to bring up the test scores especially since DCPS doesn't care about higher achieving kids every other day o the year. Maybe DCPS should ask all the parents of 4th graders at Brent why they are leaving and not heading to a cap hill middle schoolr or jefferson? Maybe they should listen to parents when they ask for test in classes, not BS differentiation in the same class, or when parents ask for serious academic rigor. Maybe, just maybe, then those same parents will be around when you need to use their kid to bring up your test scores.

I'm a high SES, highly educated parent, and I WANT my child to take PARCC (and his whole school too) because A) I don't assume I know how my child is going to do and B) I want to be sure that the school is teaching everyone well, and that they address any gaps between genders, races, SES status, etc. DCPS cares about high SES students just as much as it cares about any other student, I believe. It's weird that people project so much of their parenting/financial anxieties about life in our increasingly income and race-stratified world onto DCPS.

+1. Well said. I think the anti-test sentiment expressed here is a little bizarre.

Agree. Otherwise they can just tell us everyone is well above grade level. Which we know isn't the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would assume that most families that are trying to opt out are higher SES or have higher education parents than the majority of DCPS kids. and DCPS knows these are the kids most likely to score well on PARCC so its in DCPS' interest to make them test. I think its pointless becuase its not my kids job to bring up the test scores especially since DCPS doesn't care about higher achieving kids every other day o the year. Maybe DCPS should ask all the parents of 4th graders at Brent why they are leaving and not heading to a cap hill middle schoolr or jefferson? Maybe they should listen to parents when they ask for test in classes, not BS differentiation in the same class, or when parents ask for serious academic rigor. Maybe, just maybe, then those same parents will be around when you need to use their kid to bring up your test scores.

I'm a high SES, highly educated parent, and I WANT my child to take PARCC (and his whole school too) because A) I don't assume I know how my child is going to do and B) I want to be sure that the school is teaching everyone well, and that they address any gaps between genders, races, SES status, etc. DCPS cares about high SES students just as much as it cares about any other student, I believe. It's weird that people project so much of their parenting/financial anxieties about life in our increasingly income and race-stratified world onto DCPS.

+1. Well said. I think the anti-test sentiment expressed here is a little bizarre.

I admit (somewhat sheepishly) that it was good to be able to compare DC's raw scores to the 2015 Massachusetts concordance tables and know that DC would have scored in the 99th percentile in Mass (even though DC is not the top student at our DCPS). I realize that doesn't cover all the bases, but combined with what I know about the education my kids are getting, this was not a bad bit of confirming data. Just one more piece of the puzzle.

[Anonymous]

PS. According to late education researcher Gerald W. Bracey, PhD, qualities that state-mandated standardized tests cannot measure include

creativity
critical thinking
resilience
motivation
persistence
curiosity
endurance
reliability
enthusiasm
empathy
self-awareness
self-discipline
leadership
civic-mindedness
courage
compassion
resourcefulness
sense of beauty
sense of wonder
honesty
integrity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PS. According to late education researcher Gerald W. Bracey, PhD, qualities that state-mandated standardized tests cannot measure include

creativity
critical thinking
resilience
motivation
persistence
curiosity
endurance
reliability
enthusiasm
empathy
self-awareness
self-discipline
leadership
civic-mindedness
courage
compassion
resourcefulness
sense of beauty
sense of wonder
honesty
integrity

I'm not sure about 'endurance.' I think getting through the tests requires quite a bit.