The Brightest Students: What risks do they suffer from PARCC and other high stakes tests?
Childhood suicide is to be feared most.
The brightest children of all ages are often the ones who suffer from crash-and-burn behavior. They can be publicly shamed and lose their place in their world.
Since there can be no definite proof that high stakes testing alone is responsible for childhood suicides, we must simply use our own observations.
Childhood suicide rates have increased tremendously during the same years that No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top with their high stakes testing have existed.
Actual and perceived pressures by children often cause extreme behaviors, but the destruction of their own persona, the “smart” one or the “top” one, can be destroyed with one bad grade on an easy test, a high stakes mandated test, that “everyone” else passed.
Freeze on one day during one high stakes test? Be publicly shamed. Peer shamed. Be re-labeled for life. Crash-and burn.
This is a taboo subject. No adult wants to read about or experience this horrific reality. As parents, we must face it and do all we can to prevent it.
Why risk it? Take the pressures off by refusing or opting out for your child. Go to United Opt Out National for state-by-state sample letters and directions. You and your child have basic parental and civil rights. This is no time to be overly polite or timid because some The Brightest Students: What risks do they suffer from PARCC and other high stakes tests? | Reclaim Reform:
