MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — South Orange and Maplewood parents opposed to the controversial Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exam, the computer-based standardized test meant to measure students’ competency in math and language arts in grades three to 11 based on the Common Core educational standards, had the option of informing principals their children will be refusing the test, according to a letter sent to parents by acting Superintendent of Schools James Memoli.
According to the letter dated Monday, Feb. 23, which was exactly one week before PARCC testing began on Monday, March 2, parents were instructed to send emails or letters as soon as possible to their children’s principals, if they wished to keep their sons and daughters from taking part. Memoli’s letter also said parents should not keep their children home from school during the weeks testing will occur since the school district is obligated to enforce attendance policies.
Instead, Memoli told parents to send students to school with a book to read during the PARCC assessment. Due to space and personnel limitations, those refusing the exam are being kept in the same rooms as students taking the test, Memoli’s letter said.
Overall, Memoli stressed in his letter that parents opposed to the PARCC exam should not worry their children will be punished for not taking it.
“There will be no negative consequences or disciplinary action for any student who is not taking the assessment,” the letter said.
The district could not be reached for additional comment by press time Tuesday, March 3.
These administrative procedures were issued following the spread of a statewide opt-out movement to the South Orange-Maplewood district. At Board of Education meetings during the past several weeks, many parents voiced their concerns about the standardized test, which ranged from issues with the fact that testing is completely technology-based to problems with questions they felt were confusing. They called for the district to implement a policy that would allow students to refuse to take the test without any repercussions. The board initially seemed ready to comply, passing a policy on first reading at its meeting on Monday, Feb. 2, that would have given parents the right to keep their children out of PARCC testing with only “educationally appropriate and nonpunitive responses” from the district in return.
In the end, however, the district decided to implement its own procedures in sending the letter home with students. As a result, the BOE’s proposed policy was tabled at its meeting Monday, Feb. 23, by
a vote of 6-3, with President Wayne Eastman, Second Vice President Johanna Wright and Donna Smith voting against tabling. The majority expressed their view that the district issuing its own procedures made the BOE’s policy moot, while the minority felt the policy contained important values to be passed by the board, in addition to being implemented by the district.
But, as Eastman pointed out, just because the policy has been tabled does not necessarily mean it is completely done.
“A motion to table is not a motion on the merits of the policy, either for or against,” Eastman told the News-Record in a phone interview on Thursday, Feb. 26. “So it is possible that the policy could be revived for consideration at a later board meeting.”
In other news related to PARCC policies, state Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan’s bill delaying the use of PARCC results in teacher evaluations and student placement for three years has been passed by the state Assembly. It has yet to be heard by the state Senate. If approved, the bill would take effect for the 2015-16 school year.
As it stands, the PARCC results will not be used to assess student performance in 2015 and it will not be counted as a graduation requirement through at least 2018. They will have a 10-percent impact on teachers evaluations starting this year, though, which is why the assemblyman’s bill has been well received by the exam’s opponents.
Still, although Diegnan feels the results should not have counted for teachers’ evaluations in 2015, he previously told the News-Record he was actually in favor of students undergoing PARCC testing. Since their outcome will have no effect on them at this time, he said the exam is worth taking to see what works and what does not.
“I think it is advisable to take it to just see what the problems are so we can correct them,” Diegnan said. “If nobody takes, it is difficult to correct the issues.
“Maybe we should only give it once a year,” he said. “Maybe we should give it every other year. Maybe special-needs kids should be exempt from it. Maybe there should be a different kind of test given for vocational schools. But we are really not going to know unless we try it.”
The ongoing long-answer, performance-based PARCC assessment runs through Friday, March 20. The second round of testing — the short-answer, end-of-year exam — starts on Monday, April 27, and ends on Friday, May 8.