Wednesday, April 25, 2012

NYC Public School Parents: Please endorse and ask your CEC to approve the National Resolution against High-stakes Testing

NYC Public School Parents: Please endorse and ask your CEC to approve the National Resolution against High-stakes Testing:


Please endorse and ask your CEC to approve the National Resolution against High-stakes Testing


The following resolution is modeled on a resolution that as of April 25 had been approved by 405 Texas school boards, Palm Beach County in Florida, and Community Education Council in D 30 in Queens. It was written by Parents Across America, in collaboration with the Advancement Project;Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund;FairTestForum for Education and Democracy;MecklenburgACTSDeborah MeierNAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.National Education Association;New York Performance Standards Consortium; Tracy Novick; Parents United for Responsible Education – ChicagoDiane RavitchRace to NowhereTime Out From Testing; andUnited Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries.  Diane Ravitch has written about it here; and Valerie Straus of the Washington Post here. As of today, justone day after it was publicly released, the national resolution has already been endorsed by more than 100 organizations and more than 2000 individuals.

We encourage organizations and individuals to publicly endorse the resolution ; and especially, tourge your Community Education Council to approve it, as adapted below. We have added two clauses, including urging the state to give parents the  right to opt their children out of standardized testing, which exists in many other states, as well as the public’s right to examine these exams after they are given, which the state has now decided to disallow. If your CECor other organizationdoes pass it, please let us know by emailing leonie@classsizematters.orgwith resolution in the subject line; thanks!

WHEREAS, our nation's future well-being relies on a high-quality public education system that prepares all