Seattle Schools Community Forum

 Update:  I heard from one staff person who challenges some of the statements by Nyland: Nyland:  This year, the state is replacing the MSP/HSPE assessments with a new assessment called Smarter Balanced, which is aligned to our new College and Career Readiness Standards (Common Core). Staffer: The Smarter Balanced Assessments are NOT replacements for the MSP/HSPE. The HSPE was only required once in High School, at the 10th grade, and only in literacy. The Smarter Balanced Assessments are for more subjects and in more grades. The claim that the Smarter Balanced Assessments are a replacement is ill-informed at best and an intentional deception at worst.  Nyland: A s a tool for educators, Smarter Balanced Assessments are an improvement.  They are designed to better measure student growth from year to year.  They are adaptive to students' skill level and will adjust questions (easier/harder) based upon previous answers, an approach that...

The district has quite a bit of information for parents on the new Smarter Balanced testing on this page . It's great that the district has put up this information (I'm not sure how long it has been up - I saw this on Facebook via a reader).  But, there's a lot of ed lingo in there and I really wonder many parents will truly understand it all.   There is also a lot of language that is somewhat but not totally true. For example:

FYI, the correct legal term that districts and states use is "refusal" and not "opt-out." From the Mrs Mom Blog (in case you didn't know what the Supreme Court has to say on this subject): Until last year, I, along with most parents, did not realize that parents have the right to refuse state testing on behalf of their children. Parents have the right to refuse . There is no provision that allows for the opting out of state assessments, however according to parents’ federal constitutional rights:  "The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that parents possess the “fundamental right” to “direct the upbringing and education of their children.” The Court also declared that “the child is not the mere creature of the State: those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right coupled with the high duty to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.” (Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35) The Supreme Court criticized ...

I asked SPS for a comment on what the policies are for parents who want to opt their students out of standardized testing.  (Although MAP is not mentioned, these answers probably apply.)  Here is the reply (and I'm happy to see this district not being punitive): Currently for the MSP, we do not have “opt out” but rather parent or student refusal. (The language from the Washington State Assessment Coordinators Manual is at the bottom of this email.) For parents who refuse to have their child tested – they may choose to keep them home in the morning of the test dates or if they come to school, they will be supervised but not have individualized instruction. Supervision could be helping in the library or assistance in K-2 since they do not test MSP. The parent refusal must be initiated by the parent and not a teacher suggestion. We do not have the “sit and stare” policy. Because it is parent initiated, they know their child will not be testing. They will not go to the o...