PARCC: In unanimous vote, N.J. Assembly says schools should accommodate opt outs
TRENTON — Students who don't want to take the PARCC exams should be able to attend regular classes or work on other school activities during testing, according to New Jersey's Assembly.
A bill (A4165) requiring schools to accommodate students refusing the state's standardized tests passed the Assembly 72-0 this afternoon. Before becoming law, the proposal requires approval from the state Senate — which has yet to act on any PARCC legislation passed by the Assembly — and Gov. Chris Christie.
The bill directs schools to provide students refusing the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exams with an ungraded alternative activity or to allow those students to engage in supervised reading or other self directed work.
If a student's regularly scheduled class is in session during the administration of a PARCC test the student is refusing, that student would be allowed to attend the class, according to the bill.
New Jersey is among a majority of states with no policy on whether students can refuse state tests or how schools should treat those who do. Instead, each district was left to make its own decision when the new tests for grades 3-11 debuted across the state in late February and early March
Thousands of students have refused PARCC for various reasons, including concerns that the math and English tests are unnecessarily confusing, have stolen away too much instructional time and are too new to be used as a 10 percent weight in teacher evaluations.
Some districts have allowed students to read in another room during testing this month, but others have made students stay with their classmates while they test.
A Hope Township eighth grader testified at last week's Assembly Education committee meeting that she was forced to sit at a blank computer screen, and a Clark Township teen told NJ Advance Media he was pressured into taking PARCC even though he had submitted a refusal letter.
Jean McTavish, a leader of the New Jersey chapter of United Opt Out, called the bill "a great first step" in addressing the disparate treatment of students refusing PARCC.
"I feel like we are starting to be heard, and that's a great thing," McTavish said.
The state Department of Education has said that schools could face sanctions, including financial penalties, if 95 percent of students don't take the tests, as required by federal law. But the New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, has doubted that financial penalties will be enforced.
Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan Jr. (D-Middlesex), who introduced the bill, previously urged students should take the tests, regardless of the legislation.
"I think it would be helpful for everybody's kids to take this test," he said last month. "You don't know what's wrong with it really until you actually try it."
Republican support of the bill shouldn't be seen as encouragement to opt out but PARCC: In unanimous vote, N.J. Assembly says schools should accommodate opt outs | NJ.com:
