Are We Closing the School Discipline Gap? — The Civil Rights Project at UCLA

Are We Closing the School Discipline Gap? — The Civil Rights Project at UCLA:

Are We Closing the School Discipline Gap? Authors: Daniel Losen, Cheri Hodson, Michael A. Keith II, Katrina Morrison, Shakti Belway Date Published: February 23, 2015 The main body of this report documents gross disparities in the use of out-of-school suspension experienced by students with disabilities and those from historically disadvantaged racial, ethnic, and gender subgroups. The egregious disparities revealed in the pages that follow transform concerns about educational policy that allows frequent disciplinary removal into a profound matter of civil rights and social justice. This implicates the potentially unlawful denial of educational opportunity and resultant disparate impact on students in numerous districts across the country. Related Documents  Full Report revised: Are We Closing the School Discipline Gap?  Executive Summary: Are We Closing the School Discipline Gap?  Addendum: District Profiles  Spreadsheet Guide  Spreadsheet: Elementary 2011-12  Spreadsheet: Elementary Trends 2011-12  Spreadsheet: Secondary 2011-12  Spreadsheet: Secondary Trends 2011-12  Audio Recording: Press Conference Nearly 3.5 million public school students were suspended out of school at least once in 2011-12.12. That is more than one student suspended for every public school teacher in America. This means that more students were suspended in grades K-12 than were enrolled as high school seniors. To put this in perspective, the number of students suspended in just one school year could fill all of the stadium seats for nearly all the Super Bowls ever played—(the first 45). Moreover, recent estimates are that one in three students will be suspended at some point between kindergarten and 12th grade (Shollenberger, 2015). If we ignore the discipline gap, we will be unable to close the achievement gap. Of the 3.5 million students who were suspended in 2011-12, 1.55 million were suspended at least twice. Given that the average suspension is conservatively put at 3.5 days, we estimate that U.S. public school children lost nearly 18 million days of instruction in just one school year because of exclusionary discipline. Loss of classroom instruction time damages student performance. For example, one recent study (Attendance Works, 2014) found that missing three days of school in the month before taking the National Assessment of Educational Progress translated into fourth graders scoring a full grade level lower in reading on this test. New research shows that higher suspension rates are closely correlated with higher dropout and delinquency rates, and that they have tremendous economic costs for the suspended students (Marchbanks, 2015), as well as for society as a whole (Losen, 2015). Therefore, the large racial/ethnic disparities in suspensions that we document in this report likely will have an adverse and disparate impact on the academic achievement and life outcomes of millions of historically disadvantaged children. This supports our assertion that we will close the racial achievement gap only when we also address the school discipline gap. Suspension rates typically are three to five times higher at the secondary level than at the elementary level, as illustrated in figure 1. Furthermore, the actual size of the racial gap, such as that between Blacks and Whites, is much greater at the secondary level.  The national summary of suspension rate trends for grades K-12 indicates that these rates increased sharply from the early 1970s to the early 2000s, and then more gradually, until they leveled off in the most recent three-year period. We conclude that in this recent period, no real progress was made in reducing suspension rates for grades K-12.  After many years of widening, the gap in suspension rates between Blacks and Whites and between Latinos and Whites narrowed slightly in the most recent time period—that is, the 2009-10 and 2011- 12 school years. The gap narrowed, however, only because of the increase in the White suspension rate. Specifically, 16% of Blacks and 7% of Latinos were suspended in both years, while rates for Whites rose from 4% to 5%. We next broke down the national trend analysis to the elementary and secondary levels. We only had the necessary data for the three years shown in figure 3. Despite the persistence of deeply disturbing disparities, the good news is that we estimate a slight reduction nationally in suspension rates for Blacks, Latinos, and Whites at the secondary level, along with a small narrowing of the racial discipline gap.  Document Actions Print this

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Love Pedagogy: The Future of Education Reform | Bright Light Small City

Love Pedagogy: The Future of Education Reform | Bright Light Small City:

Love Pedagogy: The Future of Education Reform

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Robert Rendo’s “Assembly Line”

I have seen the future of education reform, and its name is the Minneapolis Teachers Institute.

At least, I hope it is the future of education reform.

The Minneapolis Teachers Institute (MTI) is a four-year old professional development program for Minneapolis teachers. It is funded by a grant from the Minneapolis Public Schools’ Office of Equity and Diversity, and coordinated by the University of Minnesota’s Department of African and African-American Studies. 

But it is so much more than that.

The MTI is a hidden gem in the pocket of an urban school district that often seems stuck in a gap-filled narrative of failure and dysfunction. It brings public school teachers together for a year-long, project-based study of what it means to be a teacher today. I have seen it in action, and it is a beautiful thing.

MTI designer Lisa Arrastia

The MTI grew out of the passion and experience of Lisa Arrastia, a writing teacher and PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota with an intriguing background and a lovely vision for her work in education:

 “In all of her work with schools, Lisa focuses on the development of empathic  communities where young people demonstrate the freedom to think, question, and innovate as they wrestle with the tangled complexities of self, other, and difference.”

Arrastia has a lot of experience working with schools, as a former principal and school director, but says her view of education changed when her own daughter started school in St. Paul (Arrastia and her family now live in New York, where she and her husband, poet Mark Nowak, both teach).

As a public school parent, Arrastia was asked to sit on a school committee, and began to get a clearer view of the restraints teachers face on a daily basis, as they work to meet the needs of their students. Efforts to reduce homework or bring innovation into the classroom often Love Pedagogy: The Future of Education Reform | Bright Light Small City:

New Mexico students walk out over new tests contested in US - Yahoo News

New Mexico students walk out over new tests contested in US - Yahoo News:

New Mexico students walk out over new tests contested in US

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Students frustrated over a new standardized test walked out of schools around New Mexico in protest Monday as the new exam was being given.

The backlash came as millions of U.S. students started taking more rigorous exams aligned with Common Core standards. Many parents and students around the country have opted out of the exams. Others are lobbying lawmakers and education officials for change.

The test measures student achievement and can be used in teacher evaluations. Opponents say the exams distract from real learning, put added stress on students and staff members, and waste resources, especially in poor districts.

A few hundred students at Albuquerque High School defied warnings from administrators that the teens would not graduate and could face discipline as a result of the walkout.

Students took to the sidewalks near the school with signs and chanted as supporters honked their horns.

Julie Guevara, 16, said students are tired of the testing and believe it's taking away from their overall education.

"We hope the governor hears us and does something about this," Guevara said. "We're not going away and plan to do this again until the testing is done."

Gov. Susana Martinez's office did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The walkouts and demonstrations began last week in Santa Fe then continued in Carlsbad on Friday.

Students from several Las Cruces schools joined the movement Monday by walking out of class. Some carried signs that read "More teaching, less testing," and "Out the door with Common Core."

New Mexico schools were administering the tests known as the Partnership for Assessment of New Mexico students walk out over new tests contested in US - Yahoo News:

Detroit Public School To SUSPEND KIDS If Parents Miss Common Core Test Meeting - Yahoo News

Detroit Public School To SUSPEND KIDS If Parents Miss Common Core Test Meeting - Yahoo News:

Detroit Public School To SUSPEND KIDS If Parents Miss Common Core Test Meeting

Teachers at Coleman A. Young Elementary in Detroit, Mich. sent a letter home with children last week threatening the little kids with suspension if their parents do not show up to a parent-teacher meeting.

In the letter, the taxpayer-paid teachers described the meeting as compulsory for parents, reports local NBC affiliate WDIV-TV.

The letter thanked two dozen parents who showed up for a meeting on Thursday. It also scolded parents who did not appear at the meeting and offered the opportunity to attend a make-up date.

Then, the teachers’ letter threatened to suspend grade-school-aged children unless their parents go to the make-up meeting.

Some parents aren’t happy.

“I was like, ‘Wow, is this a joke?’ I really couldn’t believe what I was reading,” Derrick Smoak, the father of a third-grade boy, told WDIV.

“I don’t like being threatened in no letter, especially when it comes to my child’s education,” Latrica Smoak added.

Not all parents can make the time to attend a meeting at a time set by teachers, the Smoaks observed.

“The way jobs is going these days, you’re not even allowed to take off an hour or two and go up to the school just for a parent meeting,” the mad mother told the NBC affiliate.

“Let’s find a date when it can actually work for the parents for the both of them, so they both can be there,” Derrick Smoak suggested.

Officials with the Detroit Public Schools laid all the blame for the letter on teachers at Coleman A. Young Elementary. At the same time, school district officials did not criticize the letter. Instead, Detroit Public School To SUSPEND KIDS If Parents Miss Common Core Test Meeting - Yahoo News:

Moving beyond a single measure of a school | EdSource

Moving beyond a single measure of a school | EdSource:



Moving beyond a single measure of a school

 Editor’s note: California officials are at a turning point as they begin a lengthy process of replacing the Academic Performance Index with a new system of measuring school and district performance. In this background report, EdSource editor-at-large John Fensterwald explains what the transformation might look like from the perspectives of key players involved.

The State Board of Education is seizing the chance to redefine student achievement and reframe how schools are held accountable for performance. It is in the throes of replacing the Academic Performance Index, the three-digit number that has been California’s narrow gauge of school progress for a decade and a half. The question is, what will take its place?

Fully rolling out a new accountability system is projected to take three years – there is no legislated deadline. But state board members and others who have shared their thoughts have expressed similar concepts of what it might – and should not – be.

There is near-universal agreement among educators and policy makers that a new system should be distinctly different from the API, which is calculated by weighting school and district scores on various subject assessments. Instead of a single number with consequences tied to end-of-year standardized tests, there should be multidimensional measures reflecting the complexities of school life and performance, including potentially hard-to-quantify indicators of school climate, as well as test scores and indicators of success in preparing students for college and career options. State board President Michael Kirst uses the analogy of gauges on a car dashboard that display oil pressure, temperature, battery capacity and mileage, each measuring different components of a car’s performance.

Although there are shades of difference, state board members and educators generally agree that school improvement should be the overriding goal of a new accountability system and that schools and districts should be given time and flexibility to achieve specific and clear goals. This approach would contrast with a decade of top-down sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind law, said Rick Simpson, deputy chief of staff for Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and education adviser to a half-dozen Assembly speakers. “As a state, we kind of reached the consensus that the mechanisms of intervention and punishment were not effective tools for changing behavior,” he said.

A new accountability system would culminate a series of historic changes that are already reshaping K-12 education in California. These started with the shift of authority and responsibility over budgets and policy from the state to local school districts under a new funding system that directed more money to low-income children and students learning English. The funding law established Local Control and Accountability Plans, or LCAPs, that require districts to set goals and steer money to meet broader indicators of school performance than test Moving beyond a single measure of a school | EdSource:

CURMUDGUCATION: What Duncan Got Wrong About Testing

CURMUDGUCATION: What Duncan Got Wrong About Testing:

What Duncan Got Wrong About Testing

With the whole world of education to talk about, Arne Duncan somehow ended up centering his Big Speech around testing, and indeed, that was picked up as the main story. So what, if anything, did the Secretary of Education get wrong about testing?

Short answer

Pretty much everything.

Long answer

First, Duncan positions assessment in the center of his education universe. He starts out by describing a large vision of education, one that is filled with innovation, meets the needs of every child, promotes equity, provides opportunity, values all subject areas, and provides every school with sufficient support and resources. And somehow considering all those aspects of a grand vision of education leads him to a Big Standardized Test. That's it.

It's like someone who describes the awesome heights and sensations of a gourmet dinner, teasing you with visions of tastes and textures, savory combinations and a palate immersed in gustatorial ecstasy and then, after all that description and anticipation, at the moment of the Big Reveal, draws back the curtain on--- a can opener.

Testing is Chef Duncan's can opener.

Teacher evaluation

After all this time, Duncan still sees VAM as viable and valid. He wants a teacher evaluation system that will "identify excellence and take into account student learning growth." He says that "good" assessments should be only one part of that picture, but he has never endorsed any method of measuring student learning growth other than a Big Standardized Test (let's just call it a BS Test for short).

Testing is still the cornerstone of Duncan's vision of teacher evaluation, despite the endless parade of debunking that VAM has received.

College Readiness

I believe parents, and teachers, and students have both the right and the absolute need to know how much progress all students are making each year towards college- and career-readiness. 

It's a weird construction. Parents deserve to know how all students are progressing, or just the students they are the actual parents of?

Anyway, I guess this means that students who aren't going on to college, who are bound for trade school or the military or stay-at-home parentage don't need to take the test. Duncan also uses this argument to support yearly testing in grades 3 through 8, which again raises the question of college-bound eight-year-olds. I seriously doubt that we can identify as third grader as "on track" for college, but if we can, why not have them fill out college applications on the spot? If the BS Test has that much magical power, why not put it to use. I mean, if your third graders is already accepted to Wassamatta U, you'd have ample opportunity to start financing that college education.

Test Prep

Duncan continues to act mystified by the source of all the time wasting test prep going on.

I am absolutely convinced that we need to know how much progress students are making – but we also must do more to ensure that the tests – and time spent in preparation for them – don’t take excessive time away from actual classroom instruction. Great teaching, and not test prep, is always what best engages students, and what leads to higher achievement.

But "higher achievement" is not what the USED has thrown its weight behind; it has attached all the incentives to higher test scores. The feds have created a system in which the continued existence of school buildings and teaching careers is based on test scores. Duncan is a man who has pointed a gun at schools and says, "Get those test scores up, or else I'll shoot. But don't let the tests distract you from other things." And he still hasn't put down the gun.

A Revealing Quote

 We’ll urge Congress to have states set limits on the amount of time spent on state- and district-wideCURMUDGUCATION: What Duncan Got Wrong About Testing: 

Cuomo and New York State Continue to Fail Minority Youth | Alan Singer

Cuomo and New York State Continue to Fail Minority Youth | Alan Singer:



Cuomo and New York State Continue to Fail Minority Youth

 Politicians whine. Politicians bluster. Politicians blame. New York State GovernorAndy Cuomo does it with the worst of them, especially when it comes to education. It is easy to blame teachers; but it is much harder to take responsibility for your own failures and the failure of state government to live up to its constitutional mandate to educate all children.

In his latest report, "The State of New York's Failing Schools," Cuomo placed most of the blame for educational failure on teachers and an inadequate and too lenient teacher rating system that he himself put in place. Failing schools were defined as schools repeatedly in the bottom 5% of combined student English and math scores on standardized tests or schools with a graduation rate below 60% for the past three years.

According to Governor Andy, "It is incongruous that 99% of teachers were rated effective, while only 35.8 percent of our students are proficient in math and 31.4 percent in English language arts." Andy rhetorically asked, "How can so many of our teachers be succeeding when so many of our students are struggling?"

But the answer is in the report. "Statewide, more than 9 out of 10 students in failing schools are minority or poor." It easy to blame teachers for poor school performance when the real problem in New York State is not education, but racism and poverty.

If you read the report carefully, New York State's urban minority schools in low-income communities uniformly perform poorly. Maybe the schools needed to do a better job teaching Governor Andy, who graduated from prestigious Archbishop Molloy High School, Fordham University and Albany Law School, how to do math and read better.

There are also numerous errors in the Cuomo school failure report and I suspect heads are going to roll. I compared % of Free and Reduced Price Lunch Students (FRPL) on the Cuomo report with % free lunch eligibility on the New York City Department of Education (DOE) School Quality Guide for 2013-2014. FRPL is a measure of students living in low-income families. Cuomo's report says that 9.1% of the students at John Adams High School in Queens County are eligible for free or reduced priced lunch. The NYC guide puts the number of students "Free Lunch Eligible" at Adams High School at 74%. The pattern of error continues at other Queens County high schools. According to the Cuomo report, 3.3% of the students atCuomo and New York State Continue to Fail Minority Youth | Alan Singer:

Education Policy Groups Release Charter School Accountability Agenda and National Polling Data

Risking Public Money: Illinois Charter School Fraud | Center for Popular Democracy:

Risking Public Money: Illinois Charter School Fraud

**Press Briefing – Tuesday, March 3, 1pm EST**

DIAL: (877) 876-9176, Passcode: Charter

View webinar at https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/721849341

Education Policy Groups Release Charter School Accountability Agenda and National Polling Data

In recent years, many states have worked to promote the growth of charter schools, but have failed to pay adequate attention to implementing commonsense safeguards and protections for parents, communities, and taxpayers.

As a result, studies show that over $100 million in taxpayer dollars have been wasted and over 100 thousand children attend charter schools that are failing to meet the needs of children. 

If states are to continue pursuing charter school development, it is critical that students are protected and taxpayer dollars are spent effectively. With this goal in mind, In the Public Interest (ITPI) and the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), national organizations with expertise in national and community-level education policy, have developed the Charter School Accountability Agenda, a set of commonsense proposals designed to help charter schools deliver on the promise of public education.

Tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 pm EST, policy experts from ITPI and CPD will be joined by polling experts and education advocates on a telephonic press briefing and webinar to discuss the Agenda, and unveil the results of new polling on attitudes about charter school reform among both supporters and opponents of new charter schools.

WHAT:

National policy experts host a press briefing and webinar to release Charter School Accountability Agenda and national polling results

WHO:

• Donald Cohen, Executive Director, In the Public Interest
• Kyle Serrette, Center for Popular Democracy
• Mike Bocian, GBA Strategies
• Other speakers to be added

WHEN:

Tuesday, March 3 at 1:00 pm EST

HOW:

• To join the conference call, dial (877) 876-9176, Passcode: Charter
• To view the webinar click https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/721849341
• Please make sure allow pop-ups on your browser

Jan 29, 2015

Best Practices to Protect Public Dollars & Prevent Financial Mismanagement

Download the full report

Executive Summary

In 2010, fourteen years after Illinois passed its charter school law, the U.S. Department of Education raised a red flag about the state’s oversight of fiscal controls at its charter schools,  finding that the state “has no system in place for monitoring [charter schools].” Four years later, this problem continues. To date, $13.1 million in fraud by charter school officials has been uncovered in Illinois. Because of the lack of transparency and necessary oversight, total fraud is estimated at $27.7 million in 2014 alone. Our research uncovered three fundamental flaws with the state’s oversight of charter schools:

• Oversight depends heavily on self-reporting by charter schools, or by whistleblowers. Illinois oversight agencies rely almost entirely on complaints from whistleblowers and audits paid for by charter operators. Both methods are important to uncover fraud; however, neither is a systematic approach to fraud detection, nor are they effective in fraud prevention.
• General auditing techniques alone do not uncover fraud. The audits commissioned by the charters and provided to Illinois oversight agencies use general auditing techniques, not those specifically designed to uncover fraud. The current processes may expose inaccuracies or inefficiencies; however, without audits targeted at uncovering financial fraud, state and local agencies will rarely be able to detect fraud without a whistleblower.
• Adequate staffing is necessary to detect and eliminate fraud. We found evidence that the government agencies tasked with investigating fraud are severely understaffed, which is prohibitive to conducting high quality, time-intensive audits of any type.

We propose the following targeted reforms of the existing oversight structure to remedy these flaws:

Mandate Audits Designed to Detect and Prevent Fraud

• Charter schools should institute an internal fraud risk management program, including an annual fraud risk assessment and audits that specifically investigate high-risk areas;
• Charter schools should commission audits of internal controls over financial reporting that are integrated with an audit of financial statements;
• Existing oversight bodies should perform targeted fraud audits focused on areas of risk or weakness through the annual fraud risk assessments; and
• Auditing teams should include members certified in Financial Forensics trained to detect fraud.

Increase Transparency & Accountability

• All annual audits and fraud risk assessments should be posted on the websites of charter school authorizers, typically the local school system;
• Charter authorizers should create a system to categorize and rank charter audits by fraud risk levels to facilitate transparency and public engagement;
• Charter schools should voluntarily make the findings of their internal assessments public;
• Charter school authorizers should perform comprehensive reviews once every three years;
• The Attorney General’s office should conduct a review of all charter schools in Illinois to identify inadequate school oversight by boards of directors or executives and publicize the findings; and
• The state should impose a moratorium on new charter schools until the state oversight system is adequately reformed.

Despite the possibility of almost $30 million lost to fraud in the last year alone, charter schools continue to experience unprecedented growth. Since 2003, charter school enrollment in Illinois has grown by 680 percent. Illinois students, their families, and taxpayers cannot afford to lose a dollar more in public funds as a result of fraud, misspending, or misdirection within the charter school system. The reforms proposed herein require a smart investment and a commitment to the future of Illinois’ youth and all its communities.

Download the full report

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Risking Public Money: Illinois Charter School Fraud | Center for Popular Democracy:

Watertown Daily Times | Local News, Sports, Features, and Community Information for Jefferson County, St. Lawrence County, and Lewis County in Northern New York.:

Hundreds turn out for education-related ‘Call Out Cuomo’ tour (VIDEO)

PHILADELPHIA — Students in New York state are caught between a public education system that encourages an overreliance on testing and a move toward privatized charter schools that serve a smaller portion of the population, according to educators who toured the north country Saturday as part of the “Call Out Cuomo” bus tour.

Parents, teachers, students, administrators and politicians expressed their frustration with the education policies of Democratic Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, particularly his move to withhold state-aid estimates until the legislature agreed to reforms, including increasing time needed for teachers to receive tenure, raising a charter school cap to authorize 100 new schools, instituting a tax credit for those who donate money to public or private schools and making state test results the basis for 50 percent of teacher evaluations.

The tour’s stop at Indian River High School, the fourth and final visit, was well attended.

Lori L. Atkinson-Griffin said there were about 400 people in the school’s gymnasium.

“People care about their public schools and they care about their kids so when (Gov. Cuomo) pushed that button and said you need to do this or else, he brought all the stakeholders together,” Ms. Atkinson-Griffin said.

The bus also stopped in Plattsburgh and Massena, where an estimated 800 to 900 supporters attended the rally.

A life-size cardboard cutout of Mr. Cuomo, which traveled with the group and stood on stage for speeches from union representatives and teachers, frowned.

The demonstration was notable for its colorful signs and passionate speakers.

“How dare you not properly fund public education,” said Karen E. Magee, president of the New York State United Teachers union. “It’s the basis of democracy in this country. ... Democracy no longer exists in New York state and honestly that is just totally and completely unacceptable.”

“Get off your snowmobile and get into our classrooms,” a sign read, apparently referring to Gov. Cuomo’s recent trip to Lewis County to promote tourism.

As Ms. Magee finished her speech, chants of “Call out Cuomo” grew louder as feet began to stomp on the boards near the stage.

Outside the gym, Ms. Magee said the end goal of the tour, which is happening statewide, would be to secure a budget that makes “sound educational sense.” She also said comparing charter schools and public schools is not fair because public schools serve all students while charter schools are subject to different regulations.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said charter schools were originally intended to be “innovation labs” where new educational practices would be developed and then integrated into the public school curriculum. They were never intended to be in competition with the public school system, she said.

“This is a very direct message from the people of the north country to the governor: invest in and work with public school educators and parents,” Ms. Weingarten said.

In the meantime, as the public-vs-charter-school debate plays out, Stephen J. Todd, superintendent of the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services, said the governor’s decision to withhold state-aid estimates from school districts has put administrators and school board officials in a very difficult position.

“Without those runs, districts are having to guess a whole lot more... they’re having to presume the worst — a zero percent increase in state aid — and they may be having to look for cuts,” Mr. Todd said.

Mr. Todd said the state Board of Regents has asked for a $2 billion increase in education funding for the 2015-16 school year. “That would be the right amount,” Mr. Todd said.

Gov. Cuomo has said that if his reforms are passed, there would be a $1.1 billion increase in state funding. If the proposals are not approved, it would mean just a $377 million increase. Referring to a 2015 report on the state’s “failing” schools, Gov. Cuomo said increasing aid to districts with failing schools had little effect. He is proposing a reform model that was implemented in Massachusetts where schools that fail for 3 years are taken over by a nonprofit, another school district, or a turnaround expert.

During a speech Tuesday in Manhattan, he blamed the “bureaucracy around education” Watertown Daily Times | Local News, Sports, Features, and Community Information for Jefferson County, St. Lawrence County, and Lewis County in Northern New York.:

Eighth-Grader Informs Classmates of State Standardize Test ‘Opt-Out’ — Her Mom Is ‘Very Upset’ by School’s Reaction | Video | TheBlaze.com

Eighth-Grader Informs Classmates of State Standardize Test ‘Opt-Out’ — Her Mom Is ‘Very Upset’ by School’s Reaction | Video | TheBlaze.com:



Eighth-Grader Informs Classmates of State Standardize Test ‘Opt-Out’ — Her Mom Is ‘Very Upset’ by School’s Reaction

Adelina Silva, an eighth-grade student at Capshaw Middle School in Sante Fe, New Mexico, took it upon herself to let her classmates and their parents know that they had the option to “opt out” of the state’s new online standardized test, known as PARCC.

Because she feels the standardized test is “setting us up for failure,” Silva started handing out the opt-out forms on Thursday. It didn’t take long for school officials to intervene.

KRQE-TV

“They started pulling the fliers out from the kids’ hands,” Silva told KRQE-TV.

The eight-grader was then taken to the principal’s office, where she reportedly waited for nearly an hour and a half when she should have been in class. But the student didn’t actually break any rules — the opt-out form is even available on the school district’s website.

Silva’s mother, Jacqueline Ellvinger, told the news station that she was “very upset” and defended her daughter for trying to inform students and parents, calling it “ridiculous” that students are judged so heavily based on a standardized test.

“Parents need to know that this form is online and they are able to opt their children out of it,” she added.

KRQE-TV

But Albuquerque Public Schools made sure to remind parents in an online posting that an unexcused absence would result in a zero on the test and the “fact remains that the tests are mandatory” for the schools.

Silva had been suspended for one day as of Thursday afternoon, according to the mother. The school district did not respond to KRQE-TV’s inquiry about the punishment.Eighth-Grader Informs Classmates of State Standardize Test ‘Opt-Out’ — Her Mom Is ‘Very Upset’ by School’s Reaction | Video | TheBlaze.com: