It's with great excitement that I am reading about more and more people who are opting out of the SBAC exams. There has been a national website about how to do it for quite some time. There have been Connecticut Specific sample letters available since January. And now there is a website that enables parents to fill out a form and have it sent to their district directly from the site. And despite the ridiculous suggested protocols that the State Department has provided to local districts to follow, and the letter parents have been receiving verbatim from districts all over the state, parents are still getting it done.
A group of parents who call themselves "Save our Schools" held a press conference in Hartford on February 27th. Here is the eleven minute portion where the press asked questions:
You can see the press conference in its entirety here.
In the video one mom from East Haddam spoke to her challenge in trying to have her son opted out and the very next day on Facebook I am reading that East Haddam is now replying to parents who are opting out that "Although
the State Department of Education does not recognize opt out option the district will honor your request for your child to opt out of the
Smarter Balanced Assessment and will provide a supervised setting during
the testing window. Thank you..."
So we are making a difference!
The New Haven Register even wrote a remarkably balanced story reporting on the press conference.
I blogged about my experience opting out my 7th grader on Monday. What has been your experience?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are very welcome, but are moderated. Please keep in mind that this blog is specifically for dissemination of information that is free from political affiliation bias and uneducated fear mongering. Comments containing either will not be approved.
Additionally, although you may know me from Facebook, and I am not shy about who I am, because I do share personal experiences here I ask that you respect the privacy of my children by refraining from using my real name. Comments that use my real name will unfortunately not be published.