The Launch of “The Other PARCC” Unites Many
Earlier today a group of parents, students, education advocates, organizers, and other members of the community gathered together in Montclair to launch the latest mini-documentary, “The Other PARCC: Parents Advocating Refusal on High-stakes Testing,” by filmmaker Michael Elliot. This mini-documentary is being released as teachers, students, parents, and public schools all over New Jersey are preparing to begin the first administration of Pearson’s Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) performance based assessments (PBA).
Capturing the humanity and voice of the interviewees, Elliot weaves together a short, yet emotionally compelling piece to touch the hearts and minds of all. Their narratives give us a snapshot of why these individuals have either chosen to refuse the PARCC for their children, or why they are thinking about refusing. We hope you find our narrative moving and engage in this push back. This goes far beyond how our individual children feel stressed out, but rather how these individual stories are part of a larger pattern of reforms that are attacking what we know of childhood, child development, and learning. The stress our children are feeling and experiencing are just very human responses to being dehumanized through corporate reform and standardization.
Check out the video here:
It was almost three years ago when I first saw the sample test questions for the PARCC. The text complexity, confusion, and difficulty led me to conclude the test was a set up for our students, teachers, and public education. As a mother of two children, one of which who is school-age, and the other who is yet to begin, I knew there was something I should The Launch of “The Other PARCC” Unites Many | The Edu-Sage's Companion:
