Our son took the FCAT in 4th grade, and he scored a Level 3 on the math! He was proficient! Wow! Maybe I did something right after all. However, his tics had returned for over a month due to anxiety from all the testing. It was at this time that I learned about the Opt Out Movement. I was fed up with the abusive tests tied to the standards, and wanted to do something to help change it for all of our students and teachers. I asked the school principal what I could do, and she said I would need to go to legislators and the state. She said this isn't coming from the district. That is exactly what I am doing today.
I was very fortunate that my son's school was so tuned into my son's needs by the end of fourth grade, and they wanted to do everything they could to help him his last year of Elementary School. They wanted to try putting him back in full main-stream classes with the help of an assistant. Wow! What a concept! That is what I had been fighting for since he was in Kindergarten.
During 5th grade we learned a lot! What worked? Opting Out of High-Stakes Testing was key!
I am asking all parents to please stand up for teachers! Do not place blame on them. They are suffering too. Not only do they have to teach developmentally inappropriate standards, they have to watch our kids suffer. Our teachers are being micromanaged. There is little time to review things our children do not understand. The curriculum AND the timeline it needs to be taught is set in stone, and our teachers' jobs are on the line if our kids don't do well on these tests.
I have found that opting our son out of the state-directed standardized test (FSA) did not affect his school or his teachers, and, that it couldn't be used against him for placement in remedial classes. It did not hold him back at all! And he didn't have the stress associated with needing to learn so he could pass a test. In return, the rewards were tremendous!
This abusive treatment of our most vulnerable children must cease!
A retired psychometrician in CA sent a letter to Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), which is developed by AIR and part of the FSA platform, requesting the validity documents and he was told they don't have them. The Utah [district school board members] sent a letter to Senator Simmons (Senator Simmons here in FL) stating they do not have validity documents either. Alpine teamed with EdCount who is a partner to AIR. That was hardly an independent review of the FSA. And now today OH stated they are using Florida's test? This test is about corporate greed, political agendas and control.
If the FL DOE, the districts and the counties continue down this road with a flawed, invalid test due to the lack of validity documents I fear there will be grave legal dangers and consequences due to the fraudulent test. There is already a lawsuit that was filed in 2009 and will finally be heard in March 2016 in regards to the "accountability" system in Florida. The evidence of fraud is mounting.
Janet Adkins stated today "Parents have a right to know whether their child is making adequate progress." This test is about corporate greed, political agendas and control. NO parent in this state will know the answer to that. It's time to stop the education malpractice and focus on our kids.