Seattle Opt-Out Group meeting

A Seattle Opt Out Group is forming. They are a group of teachers, parents/caregivers, and community activists who are working to halt the machine of high stakes standardized testing that public school privatizers and corporate Education Reformers are promoting all over the country.

The group is just getting started, but they are growing fast. Their third meeting will be on Tuesday, February 10th at 6:00pm at the Beacon Hill Library. Garfield teacher Rachel Eells will talk about the New York Performance Standards Consortium.

Ms. Eells and other educators have been working to further understand and develop a model of performance-based assessment that could potentially be implemented in Seattle. Leading the field with this model is the New York Performance Standards Consortium, with whom Ms. Eells and other Garfield teachers have been collaborating. Go to the meeting to hear about what the opt out group would like to put on the table once SBAC and high stakes testing are swept off of it. Alternative assessments, assurances, and accountability tools are crucial components of the opt-out movement.

You can contact therm at: seattleoptoutgroup@gmail.com

The group will meet again on March 9th, at the Montlake Library, hosting two teachers from WABATS who will present on opting out in Washington State.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Related to testing, what ever happened to the Beacon Hill test tampering investigation?

curious
Lynn said…
Speaking of testing at Garfield High School, the SBAC testing dates have been added to the testing schedule.

The house education committee is considering a bill that would define a school day as "a minimum of six instructional hours." If this were to pass, we'd have no more late starts for testing (or freshman family engagement) or early releases for professional development.
Opting-Out said…
I hope this group can start an opt-out movement, and make their way into the NW section of town.
Anonymous said…
I take it Patty Murray isn't joining, being as she is about to set testing into stone for future youth of America.

Oh well, nice legacy, not.

-NNNCr
Unknown said…
Will there be any notes, videos, PowerPoints etc. available online for those who can't make the meeting>?
Anonymous said…
Unknown,

There will not be any recording of the meeting for online posting, but if you'd like the materials that we will be passing out forwarded to you then please contact us at seattleoptoutgroup@gmail.com and we will make sure to provide you with as much as we can. We will be meeting again on March 9 at the Montlake Library, and many of our other happenings can be found at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Seattle-Opt-Out/430265387124998



AS
Anonymous said…
Opting Out, we ARE starting an opt out movment! It is happening. We also have a large school district that covers quite a bit of ground--the process of opting out in the NW section of town is the same as in the SE, NE, Central and SW.

We hope to have meetings everywhere, and recognize the challenges of getting from one end of town to the other, especially at 5:30pm! So, I'd invite you to contact us at seattleoptoutgroup@gmail.com so we can work with you to arrange a meeting that suits your neighborhood.

Also, there will be an excellent talk on Common Core State Standards in the Northgate area (I know, NE, not NW, but perhaps closer) on February 25 at the library. Info here: https://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/an-outstanding-presentation-on-the-common-core-standards-in-seattle/

AS
Anonymous said…
Related to testing, there are bills being heard Tueaday at 1:30 to tie evaluations to test scores. More info and send an email to your Senator and to Senator Litzow who is sponsoring the bills:
http://action.washingtonea.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=10891

Glad I left

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