UPDATE: Parents – Here’s how to resist the attack of too much testing! Parents United for Responsible Education

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Parents – Here’s how to resist the attack of too much testing!

by admin

Alderman Matthew O'Shea introduces Monty Neill at St. Xavier forum November 2, 2012.

Parents in Chicago and around the nation are sick of all the tests that our children face in school these days. Teachers are fed up, too. They tell us that there are so many tests now that they just don’t have enough time to teach.
Anti-testing fever heated up even more during the CTU strike, when the issue of excessive and unfair testing and test-based “accountability” was forcefully and effectively raised by marchers and their picket signs. Now parents all over the city have been getting together to talk about the problem and make plans for what we can do together to fight this growing attack on our children’s education.
I spoke at a meeting with parents from Drummond Montessori school about testing on October 4. On Nov. 2,

Testing resistance resources

by admin

• PURE Fact Sheet: Opting out of student testing: What’s the law for Chicago families?
• PURE Fact Sheet: Tests in the Chicago Public Schools 2012
• PURE Tip Sheet: Sample Testing Opt Out letters
• PURE Tip Sheet: Action Steps for better assessment: What you can do to win the testing battle
• PURE Tip Sheet: Testing opt out legal language
• Reasons for not testing: chart from Illinois State Board of Education
• Illinois state law on state assessment
• Opt Out toolkit from United Opt Out National
• Indiana parent flyer on opting out
• PURE Fact Sheet: How Arne Duncan may be taking the FAMILY, RIGHTS, and PRIVACY out of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
• FairTest Fact Sheet: A Better Way to Evaluate Students and Schools
• FairTest Fact Sheet: Common Core Assessments: More Tests, But Not Much Better
• FairTest Fact Sheet: Why Teacher Evaluation Shouldn’t Rest on Student Test Scores
• National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing – Sign Now!

Stand for Children front man: No need for “parent trigger” with Chicago’s LSCs

by admin

I was proud to share the Local School Council model with my co-founders at Parents Across America, and delighted when PAA adopted it as our alternative to the “parent trigger” school privatization mechanism.
Unlike charter or private turnaround companies, LSCs have a significant track record of improving schools over time without any extra resources beyond the collaborative efforts of parents, teachers, administrators and community members.
Now, to my astonishment, organizers for such pro-privatization groups like Stand for Children and New Schools