The following piece appears on
Townhall.com.
Alexander, Murray Bill Tightens the Screws of Mandated Assessments
Jane Robbins | Jun 30, 2015
Editor's Note: This column was co-authored by Heidi Huber, founder of Operation Opt Out Ohio.
Parents
across the nation are in open revolt against the testing mania that has
seized public schools under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Common
Core national standards. In some states,
thousands of students — 200,000 in New York alone — are refusing
the “mandatory” assessments. One would think the Washington politicos
who are writing the NCLB reauthorization bill would take note of this
widespread rebellion and would ease — or better still, eliminate — the
federal testing requirements. But unlike the repentant thief who returns
the loot, the federal government never willingly relinquishes power it
has stolen from the states.
Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) are
collaborating on an NCLB rewrite dubbed the “Every Child Achieves Act”
(ECAA). This bill maintains NCLB’s requirement of administering annual
assessments in English and math in grades 3 through 8 and once in high
school. But ECAA doesn’t ignore the “opt out” movement – in fact, it
adds language that effectively encourages the states to lower the boom
on noncompliant students and parents.
Under ECAA (as under NCLB), state assessments must “[m]easure the
annual progress of not less than 95% of all students . . . .” But while
NCLB applies this requirement only to the subset of low-income schools
that receive federal Title I funding, ECAA extends the requirement to
all schools by making it part of the mandatory state accountability
system. If ECAA passes, expect USED to ramp up its threats against
states that have too many opt-outs and thus fail in their commitment to
ensure 95% participation.
During recent debate on ECAA, an amendment was added that nominally
protects the right to opt out of assessments: “Nothing in this part
shall be construed as preempting a State or local law regarding the
decision of a parent or guardian to not have the parent or guardian’s
child participate” in the federally mandated assessments. But this
language wouldn’t apply unless a state or locality has a law
affirmatively protecting the right to opt out, which few do. And while
this language could prohibit USED from punishing parents or students who
choose to opt out, it would not appear to affect measures taken against
states, districts, or schools. If the bill intends to protect the
states against retaliatory measures from USED, it should say so. It
doesn’t.
ECAA also continues to mandate that results of high-stakes
assessments be used in state accountability systems. For example, the
bill requires states to use assessment scores, progress toward readiness
for “college and the workforce,” and high-school graduation rates as a
“substantial” portion of a school’s grade. So not only must states
ensure 95% participation in the assessments, they must use the results
to rate their schools.
Is Congress so disconnected from its constituents that it fails to
understand the deep-seated objections to these mandatory assessments?
Apparently parental complaints have been drowned out by the entreaties
of testing giants such as Pearson Education, Educational Testing
Service, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and McGraw-Hill, which have
protected their lucrative testing turf by spending a
combined $20 million on lobbying efforts.
The companies get rich and the federal government gets increased
control. It will be a win-win for the public/private partnership
cronies, while students will lose on every front.
Leadership is bull rushing the
No Child Left Behind
reauthorization bill through. But all has not been lost, at least not
yet. We hope people will realize what’s going on and will demand that
Congress prohibit the Feds from dictating to the states how often and in
what subjects children must be tested.
