Welcome to the Coalition for Better Education
"Coercion has no place in a democratic society, least of all in school where it flies in the face of everything that quality education should stand for!"
Conny Jensen
The Coalition for Better Education was started by a group of aspiring educators from the University of Northern Colorado, and has expanded to include teachers, parents and students across the state. Our goal is to expand awareness of the costs and limitations of the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) and "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB), and to empower parents and teachers.
Here's a letter from a parent to the school board. We offer it here as a model.
This is written notification that ____will not be taking the CSAP this year (or any other year for that matter).
C.R.S. 22-1-123-(5) (a) states that students cannot be tested or evaluated without written consent. I do not give my consent for to take the CSAP.
Furthermore, if other students in ____’s classroom are provided with snacks then _____gets them too. If other kids in___’s class are rewarded with ‘whatever’ (including but not limited to extra recess) for taking the test then ____gets it too otherwise it’s known as coercion or, if ___is excluded, discrimination.
As a reminder to our previous meeting regarding CSAP and my many reasons for opting my children out of such standardized testing, please know that my occupation is that of an investigator. That said, I have thoroughly researched the issue. One of the things I keep hearing from many uninformed/misinformed people is that____’s CSAP score of a zero (for opting out) would negatively affect her class/the school/district – not so. Please see the following:
“There is no federal law prohibiting a parent from opting their child out of CSAP testing.” --Jo O’Brien, Colorado Dept. of Education