Reply to How to opt out of PARCC at Deal?

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[quote=Anonymous]Reviving this thread after a two-week break to report that we're opting out of PARCC testing this week at our by-right EotP DCPS elementary school with little difficulty, though we're removing our student from testing time blocks ourselves.  From what we've gathered, a small investment in time, politeness and low-key determination is all you need to opt out.

If anybody other parents in DCPS programs wants to follow suit next year, based on our experiences, here's what we suggest.

*Start by finding out who your school's "Testing Coordinator" is.  Arrange to meet with this admin, perhaps the vice principal, for briefly in Feb or March.  Bring your child's latest school report, showing # of excused and unexcused absences accrued to date, to the meeting.  The fewer unexcused absences your child has, the stronger your position will be on opting out.  I went to the meeting with a report card showing zero unexcused absences.  I started the school year planning to opt out, knowing that unexcused absences would weaken my position. Also, I guessed that planning to miss the entire testing week to opt out would weaken my position, so I arranged with the school to have the child miss only testing blocks, not instructional time.  That approach worked well for us.

*At the meeting, tell the admin that you intend to opt out of PARCC testing (don't ask permission).  S/he will likely ask you who you spoke to at OSSE.  Give no names, tell him or her that you were instructed to speak to your school's testing coordinator re opting out.  Go away and write the admin a good letter stating your intent to opt out, clearly and briefly explaining why.  Stress that you intend to opt out quietly to smooth the way.  Your letter will be handed off to DCPS and OSSE testing higher ups.  We wrote a two-page letter objecting to the quality, length, design and especially the source (corporate conglomerate Pearson Education Ltd) of the PARCC.  Expect this admin to twist your arm not to opt out, mainly because the District has no opt out policy.  Politely explain that you will stick to your guns regardless.  It's the admin's job to prove to DCPS higher-ups that s/he has done his utmost to persuade you from opting out, so listen politely to his or her spiel on opting in.  Stay polite, don't give them a hard time.

*Ask the admin to tell you when testing will take place for your child's cohort.  Ours did, readily.  Tell the admin that you plan to remove your child from school during testing blocks, returning them afterward.  If the admin gives you a very hard time in response, you can politely ask for a packet of forms to withdraw your in-boundary child from a by-right school for the two-week testing period, then re-enroll them, so DCPS can't ding you on attendance.  Don't respond to threats that your child could not be guaranteed a return to his or her current classroom.  Faced with the prospect of your politely dis-enrolling your student, your admin is likely to back down on giving you a hard time.  See if you can get the admin to agree that you can quietly remove your child from school during testing blocks.  Ours did, readily.

*If the admin agrees to let you remove your child from school, speak briefly to the child's classroom/homeroom teacher to arrange for the kid to be sent to the front office at the start of each testing block, so you can discreetly pick them up there.  Send an email to the school's Testing Coordinator before school on each testing day stating your intent to remove the child during that day's testing block, returning them to class afterwards.  Keep your emails for your records (in case you get hauled before the school registrar eventually, or worse, a social worker or Superior Court judge).

*Before you opt out, role play with your child to practice politely fending off inquiries from curious peers about opting out.  Get the child on board with a game plan to deal with peers that calls as little attention as possible to your opting out.

*Implement your opt out plan, punctually, on each of the 5 testing days.  When you sign in and out of the school to remove the child from PARCC testing, photograph our signature on the sign-in and out sheets at the front desk for your records.  Go wherever you want and do whatever you want during the testing time blocks, which vary in length daily from 90 to 140 minutes daily.  I take turns removing the child with my spouse, and a babysitter whose name the school has.

*Hope that the OSSE testing people will ignore you after testing has concluded.  So far so good for us, though we know that we're not out of the woods yet....[/quote]

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