80% of parents at a NYC elementary school opt out of testing!

THIS IS HUGE!!! No Testing at This School! Parents Say NO! by dianerav Almost everyone agrees that high-stakes testing for little children is a huge mistake. The parents not only wrote their elected officials, they took direct action. More than 80% of the parents of the children at the Castle Bridge Elementary School in New York City refused to allow their children to be tested. They opted out. The tests were canceled. NO TESTS. NONE! The parents knew that the only purpose of the tests was to evaluate the teachers, not the children. Most Castle Bridge School parents — representing 83 of the 97 students — refused to permit their children to be tested. “My feeling about testing kids as young as 4 is it’s inhumane,” said PTA co-chairwoman Dao Tran, mother of first-grader Quyen Lamphere, 5. “I can only see it causing stress.” The state now requires schools to factor test scores — in one form or another — into their teacher evaluations, which are new this year in the city. The parents thought the testing was absurd. As the Daily News reported earlier this month, such exams, given to kids as young as 4, require students to fill in bubbles to show their answers. It’s like the SAT for kids barely older than toddlers. And parents resent it. “Our principal does a good job,” said PTA co-chairwoman Elexis Pujolos, mother of kindergartner Daeja, 4, and first-grader AJ, 6. “A test could not possibly measure what she is able to.” Principal Julie Zuckerman canceled the required tests because the scores wouldn’t provide statistically meaningful data once so many parents opted out. She also hates judging teachers even partly on the basis of a test. “It can’t be used as evaluation tool of teachers even if it were a valid test — which it’s not,” she said. If all parents did this, they could stop the testing madness that is ruining education and children’s love of learning. If it can happen at Castle Bridge, it can happen anywhere! Without data, the giant testing machine can’t function. The children can learn stress-free. Education becomes possible. Message: OPT OUT.