Seattle Schools Community Forum

I have heard from parents that assessments have started for some elementary students.  But naturally, parents aren't being informed about this. Seattle Opt-Out. Here's a link to the K-8 assessments. Here's a link to the high school assessments. Some schools still use MAP (except in high school)and some will use Amplify.  One parent said she was told that Amplify was being used for "instructional differentiation."  From the Soup for Teachers page via Erin Kinsells Klones: MAP can potentially be administered three times a year: Sept. 21-Oct. 30, Jan 4-29 and May 9-June 10.  WaKIDS can also be administered, in buildings that have all-day state-funded K, Aug. 1-Oct. 29, Oct. 30-Feb. 14 and Feb. 15-July 31.  This information is available on the District website.  Now the tricky part, the part that concerns us greatly: parents may or may not be informed. Crazy, we know, but that is part of the work we're doing. School admin at your buildin...

Kind of a ying/yang reaction from Opt-Out Oregon : Today, Oregon Governor Kate Brown sent out a media release announcing she has signed House Bill 2655 into law . This is welcome news, and expands the rights of students & parents to opt-out of high-stakes testing. Some elements here have us concerned, though. The statement wrings its hand over the possible loss of federal funding if the opt-out rate gets too high. Additionally, there are elements that point to an ongoing effort to intimidate parents & students from opting out.  Frankly, if educators and administrators don't have a good case to make that parents understand and believe, all the talking in the world on the subject of assessments will mean nothing. 

Update :  another Denny parent let me know there was no separate Denny opt-out form.  What appears to have happened is that only students who took the SBAC  and completed a "Denny Way"form got to go the school carnival.  The form was given ONLY to students who took the SBAC. So for the students who didn't take the SBAC, they were "empowering" students by having them write "appeals" to go to the carnival.   I don't know how many students who opted out got to attend the carnival  based on appeal. end of update A Denny parent let me know that their opt-out info from Denny had a tiny notation at the bottom about if a student opts out of the SBAC, he/she might not get to do some activities. That apparently has now taken the form of the principal, Jeff Clark, not allowing students who opted-out to attend a school festival that was held last Friday. I'm thinking some people would find that punitive and unfair but that's just me. I...

State Superintendent Randy Dorn appears to be quite upset about the opting out of the SBAC in Seattle high schools.  So much so that the Times granted him an op-ed to write about SBAC where he says "few 11th graders are grappling with refusal to take the test..."   That would be almost a thousand juniors opting out of testing in the largest school district in the state.  That's not "a few" student "grappling" with anything. Then the Times has a new story updating how many more SPS juniors have opted out.

Considering it?  You can still opt your child out of part of the SBAC testing.  I honestly believe two things. One, the feds will not be able to come in and punish districts/schools for the decisions of parents.  In fact, I think that states might consider suing the feds over it and boy, would that make for an interesting Supreme Court case.  (To note, the Court has sided with parents on several of these types of cases.) Two, change on comes when people of good faith stand together.  There is no "done deal" to all of this.  Parents - and taxpayers - have the right to ask hard questions about the teaching and learning being done and how the dollars are being spent  in the name of accountability.  I'm not sure anyone can say this is the only/best way to that accountability. As of 4/20/15, in New York, 177,249 students have already been opted out of the Common Core test. Update: Want to hear more about opting out? Seattle Opt Out Grou...

I asked the district: Is it true that opting out your kids can get them removed from the Spectrum/APP seats? The answer, via Advanced Learning, was a flat "no."   So if your teacher/principal is saying this, tell them you checked with the district.   If you continue to hear this, I would write to your region's Executive Director because it is wrong to give out misinformation about SBAC testing. Nationally, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, endorsing opting out (at least in her home state of New York).  Her statement yesterday via Twitter, We believe parents have right to opt-out & tchrs shld be able to advise parents how. We’ve said it repeatedly, are fighting for it in ESEA. @lacetothetop et al have asked what I’d do if I had kids in NYPS—based on what I’ve seen, if I had kids, I’d opt them out of the PEARSON (PAARC) tests this yr. I may have put this up before but I think it worthy of a repeat: it's the ...

As you all may be aware, both sides of Congress are struggling to rewrite NCLB (formally known as ESEA).  It appears that AFT (American Federation of Teachers) is pushing hard with Senator Patty Murray to put in a clause about the right of parents to opt out of standardized testing.   PLEASE give her office a call to let her know you support this inclusion to the revision of the law.  Email   or phone, 866-481-9186 or in Seattle 553-5545 Sample statement: "I wanted to let the Senator know that I support a clause in any revision to NCLB that would include parents' ability to opt their child out of high-stakes testing." From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel comes news that the Walton Foundation , which has made huge "investments" into Milwaukee's public education system, is pulling out.  (Thank you to reader, Dan.)  This article seems to be an op-ed by a professor of law and public policy at Marquette University :aw School, Alan J. Borsuk.  ...

The district sent out this robocall today about SBAC assessments.  They pack a lot into a short bit. (Yes, they probably used the word "assessments" probably because "testing" has a bad ring to it.) They also say " the state requires assessments ..." when REALLY what they should say is that "the state requires the DISTRICT to give assessments"- not that all students have to take them.  But maybe that's more information than the district wants parents to know.

From reader Lynn: The Washington Educational Research Association has published a White Paper on Parent/Student refusal to participate and a handy test refusal form . Smarter Balanced website (the test that Washington State students will be taking). FAQs page. I note that on their support for students page ( those with visual, auditory, linguistic, or physical needs), they say this (partial): A set of universal accessibility tools—such as a digital notepad and scratch paper—will be available to all students. Designated supports—like a translated pop-up glossary—will be made available to students for whom a need has been identified by school personnel familiar with each student’s needs and testing resources. Accommodations will be available to students with a documented need noted in an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 plan. These tools include Braille and closed captioning, among others. A digital notepad is going to be available for all students?  ...

More opt-outs of testing, this time at a school in Chicago where 300 parents have opted their children out.  In an article from Catalyst Chicago , one superintendent sent a letter to parents telling them why they shouldn't opt their children out.  One interesting note - they use the MAP test for screening AL but they have a much lower threshold than SPS. The letter also for the first time makes clear that the NWEA/MAP will be used to determine who can sit for the selective enrollment test, but it sets the bar low. The current policy limits the selective test to those students who ranked in the 50th percentile or above on the nationally normed section of the ISAT. Now, according to the letter, students scoring above the 24 th percentile on the NWEA/MAP will be eligible to test for selective enrollment high schools. Sharkey said the new standard is low because district officials are concerned about a lot of students doing poorly. “These new Common Core assessmen...