For some reason, four hundred (and change) families have chosen to send their children to Reach Academy despite poor high stakes testing scores. Maybe it's b/c they know the test is bogus. Yesterday, the state dealt the death knell to Reach and ordered the charter closed at the end of this school year.
I am struck by one particular thought regarding the families that found value in Reach. Your school is closing because your children took a high stakes test and failed. According to an arbitrary measuring system, DCAS, your children failed to express the content knowledge they had gleamed from their teachers. This does NOT mean that your children did not learn, that your teachers did not teach, or that your school leadership could not lead.
Reach parents, Opt Out Now. No school in Delaware or this nation has ever been closed because students did not take "the test." As you now know, first-hand, schools are closed because students do take "the test."
Now, Delaware claims that it does not have a mechanism for opting out. But, that does NOT mean you can't do it. Today, opting out in Delaware is a form of civil disobedience, a method of protest, and technically a right, called parent directive, as defined in the constitution and affirmed by case law. Yet, the state will tell that you can't opt out. There is a way around it - find out when your child is scheduled to take "the test," you know, the one that just obliterated your school. Then keep you child home on the testing days.
Fearful? You've already lost your school. What more can the state take from you? They cannot punish your children. They cannot punish you. They may try to frighten you. But, what else is there to loose? Really?
Reach Parents, Opt-Out. You may not be able to save your school, but you can make your voices heard.
Opt. Out.
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2 comments:
As someone who has participated in more than act of civil disobedience. I think a blanket refusal to take the "test" is an excellent idea. Since there is nothing to lose I might suggest that if students do take the test the right answer is always "C". Doing this will make the result worthless. NO ONE in the Delaware Department of Education cares about our children.
Harry Curriden
(had to post as anonymous because I can't get google to work right now)
Marvelous Idea..
"C" as in Children
And I wanted to thank Elizabeth on her reflection of the closing and how it does not speak ill of those students there. Perhaps a different assessment will give a different result?
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