NEW: PARCC Opt-Out Legislation to be Heard in House Committee on Wednesday
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Legislation to allow parents and guardians of students in RI schools to opt out of the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers (PARCC) assessments and tests will be heard by the House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare when it meets Wednesday, April 1. The hearing will be held in Room 135 of the State House, starting around 5pm.
The legislation introduced by Rep. Gregg Amore (D-East Providence), calls on the Commissioner of Education to create an opt-out procedure and to provide to each school in Rhode Island a standardized form that can be sent to parents or guardians informing them of their opt-out rights.
On March 17, GoLocalProv reported on the PARCC opt out controversy. Jean Lehane, a parent and organizer of the group "Stop the Common Core" on Facebook who is opposed to the PARCC test told GoLocalProv, "[We are] very hopeful that the state of Rhode Island will not only change approach but very much hoping they will abandon the PARCC tests as 12 states (2 more pending - out of a total 24) have done," said Lehane. "We are not adverse to assessments. It's just we would rather have assessments done by our children's own teachers in their own classrooms."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"RIDE fully expects that all eligible students will participate in state assessments, which are an integral part of the process of education in Rhode Island public schools. There is no formal procedure for parents to remove their children from participation in any school activity – including state assessments," RIDE Spokesperson Elliot Krieger told GoLocalProv on March 17. "RIDE will not recognize any attempt to refuse participation in the state assessment, but we also understand that it is not possible to compel a student to actually participate in taking any exam (or in any school activity)."
“Parents have legitimate concerns regarding the nearly 11 hours of testing their children will encounter, combined with additional hours of test preparation,” said Representative Amore.
“Moreover, the idea that individual districts can make this test a graduation requirement or apply it to academic records is absurd," added Amore.
The legislation also provides that no student will have his or her academic record adversely affected for not participating in PARCC.
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