Rachel Larson, a parent of a student at School No. 12, made a strong appeal to Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas yesterday. Larson’s son opted out of state-mandated tests under way this week, and Larson asked Vargas to stand up to the State Education Department by not giving the controversial tests.
“I want you to know that you’re in a very difficult position, but you would be supported by so many parents,” Larson said.
Vargas politely said that he disagrees with those parents who opt-out their children.
“As a superintendent, I have an obligation to adhere to requirements of the state,” he said.
The exchange between Vargas and Larson, though congenial, was serious. And it occurred as thousands of students throughout the region and the state are opting-out of testing because their parents are fed up with high-stakes, standardized testing regimens.
Roughly a million students in grades 3-8 statewide are scheduled for tests this week in math and English. Though there isn’t an exact count of how many students are opting-out, it’s clear that the numbers are dramatically high.
And so is the tension between parents, teachers, school administrators, and government bureaucrats.
A brief recap: last month, the Rochester Teachers Association adopted a resolution affirming parents’ right to opt out of the tests. But on April 2, Vargas sent a letter to parents trying to ease their concerns and encourage them to not opt out.
“It is important to know there is no provision in the state law or regulation that allows parents to opt their children out or request an alternative evaluation,” the letter states. “Under state accountability requirements, a school cannot demonstrate progress unless at least 95 percent of its students take the tests.”
And last week, RTA President Adam Urbanski went on the offensive by holding a press conference to support parents who decide to opt out of state testing.
Yesterday, Urbanski notified RTA members that the union will file a Class Action Grievance against the district after Beverly Burrell-Moore, elementary school chief, sent an email to some principals directing them to “identify teachers who have sent letters or made phone calls to parents encouraging them to opt out their children from NYS Assessments. Also, identify teachers who you have evidence as utilizing their classrooms as ‘political soap boxes.’”
Urbanski said that he spoke with Vargas yesterday and that he said that he was unaware of the Burrell-Moore directive.
“I spoke to him directly and I asked him, ‘Do you support this?’” Urbanski said. “It’s obvious that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing there.”
Vargas said at last night’s meeting that no punitive actions would be taken against teachers.
Still, few things could have topped an already volatile situation like a letter asking principals to “identify” teachers. This is one of the reasons that teachers unions formed in first place: to protect teachers from administrative and political agendas.
Some local school administrators and state education officials fail to grasp the depth and scope of the problem. While the anti-testing movement appears to have reached a crescendo this week, this is not just about children taking tests. And, contrary to what many state officials have tried to suggest, this isn’t just about union resistance to controversial teacher evaluations, either.
It’s worth noting that the backlash to high-stakes testing occurred as an Atlanta judge sentenced several teachers to prison after they were found guilty on racketeering charges. The teachers were involved in changing students’ scores on high-stakes tests.
And Congress has been wandering in circles regarding revisions to the No Child Left Behind law that helped generate some of the education policies now under fire.
This is increasingly about a once-revered public institution in crisis. Many people – parents, educators, and community leaders – have become cynical and less trusting of public education policies and the institution itself. And rather than easing those concerns, some education, government, and political leaders are confirming the public’s worst fears.
This article appears in Apr 15-21, 2015.
Taxpayers should file a “class action grievance” against Adam Urbanski and his teacher’s union. The guy lied to the public in the 1980s when he negotiated a 40% salary increase for city teachers that was phased in over three years and was supposed to be the be all, end all, to increase performance for city schools. Urbanski and that schmuck Peter McWalters threw money at teachers with no increase in accountability, and the results that followed have been an absolute disgrace. A class action suit should be filed for the 40% salary increase that, in the end, did absolutely nothing to improve school performance. Taxpayers deserve a massive refund for being lied to for the past three decades.
My kids have great teachers, and they deserve every penny.
Perhaps these tests serve a different purpose from what we are led to believe.
We’ve been told that these tests are for the benefit of the children taking them; yet, I’m hearing all sorts of things like about the validity, reliability, what they actually measure, ties to teacher evaluations, pressures on children, instruction time being compromised from children and much more. However, I question something that’s been going on in education for some time and wonder if there’s a connection between the “reform movement” and these tests?
I hear that there is a ton of money to be made by investing in privately run schools; many of those investors have been known as “reformers”.
If Andrew Cuomo, who has strong ties with the NYS Education Dept. along with outside investors/reformers, were able to convince New Yorkers that privately run schools are a better alternative than public schools, it follows that those investing in private schools will get a huge return.
But, they have to convince New Yorkers that children in public schools have failed due to past and current NYS certified teachers and standards. So, they need some data to support their claim.
Could that be why Cuomo et. al. secured outside test -creating corporations to devise and analyze tests that would support, with data, the link between “failure” of children, and NYS certified public educators?
That data, however valid / reliable or not, could be misinterpreted and confusing to many New Yorkers.
Is it possible that the children are being unfairly and unneccessarily subjected to these tests, for the political and financial gain of the Cuomo investors/ reformers?
Both side of this have good points but they are also missing the bigger picture. The activist and others who hate the test, the common core standards and the governor forget that the districts, their superintendents and union leaders agreed to this mess when they accepted the obligations that came with Race to the Top’s $700 million dollar carrot.. You can’t accept dirty money and then cry foul. At the same time the ultra conservatives feel any standardized test is a good thing and this is not the case especially when it is accompanied by a curriculum that is just plain awful.
What is being missed by everyone is the abuse that most city kids, their teachers and principals go through daily. The system kills passion and yet no one seems to care. The tests and related evaluation concerns are just part of a much bigger issue. Specifically, that our educational leaders and local political heavyweights have allowed the oppression to go on for more than 30 years. It is infuriating to see so much press being given to a test while the devastating human toll is ignored.
What I find most interesting is that teachers, nor union leadership have said a single word (publicly) about the fact that we recently discovered — teachers have money/stock invested in the school-to-prison-pipeline, i.e., in the prison/industrial/military complex. Also, isn’t it interesting (to say the least) that mainstream media has virtually ignored the latter issue — of which they have been informed repeatedly?
NOW, TELL US AGAIN WHO HAS CHILDREN’S BEST INTEREST AT HEART.
http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/roch…
http://minorityreporter.net/an-open-letter…
There will be no change for the better until Urbanski is gone. If he represents teachers, why is he telling parents to have their children opt out of testing….and better yet, why would parents listen to him?
No, school employee unions do not “protect [employees] from administrative and political agendas.” They protect them from having to be held accountable like other adults.
Notice that the writer would protect a teacher politicizing the classroom in the name of avoiding “political agendas”! And what’s an “administrative agenda”? Most people just call it management.
It’s deeper than the test. You Gotta Say It is correct again. Why did the union agree to this APPR nonsense? Now they seem desperate and are trying to get parents on board. If the union cared so much, why did they throw the rock and hid its hand?
The frenzy that goes on with this testing has dubious intentions in my opinion. The amount of resources alone is mind blowing. 6 school days wasted on this foolishness. And teachers have to grade theses tests ( maybe 2-3 teachers per school). A sub will have to be hired for yet another empty day.
What will people say about this she mentality in the years to come?