First posted at R.A.V.E. (Re-igniting Association Values for Educators)
Citizens of Colorado, I address this letter to you, because you
are my community, my people. You have the power to shift the momentum in
our public schools – where our students are increasingly being taught
to the test under the intense high stakes conditions created via Race to
the Top. Meanwhile, child poverty is ignored. I send this letter to you
because I have made attempts to have a dialogue with the
decision-makers. I have spoken with Secretary Arne Duncan, I have
written to President Obama, and I have spoken in front of the Colorado
Legislative Education Committee, all to no avail. So, I address this
letter to you, in the hopes that my words and my actions will create
momentum across our beautiful state for the children of Colorado.
Thank you.
Dear Citizens of Colorado,
I am a teacher in the Aurora Public School District. I am writing to
let you know that I will be refusing to administer the PARCC in the
2014-2015 school year. I do not stand alone in my refusal of this high
stakes test. I join the ranks of educators across the country who are
fighting back against policies and mandates that ultimately harm our
children and destroy our children’s opportunities to become confident,
active, problem solving citizens.
I have watched the testing increase over my 18 years of teaching in
the public schools. I have watched what it has done to my ability to
meet children’s needs and to allow children the opportunities to engage
in learning that is authentic – learning that furthers the purpose of
these children’s lives. This year, in particular, I am watching an
onslaught of common core curriculum infiltrate our schools, along with
additional tests and test prep to add to the test load which permeates
every minute of every school day. I hear again and again that I should
find the “good” in this curriculum and make the best of it. I am a
literacy coach, therefore, I work with many teachers and children in our
building. I believe our children deserve better than simply, my ability to find the “good” in this common core test prep curriculum.
I believe our children deserve what President Obama’s children have at
Sidwell, where teachers have autonomy to teach without scripted common
core curriculum and common core high stakes testing. I take objection
to the fact that our children are being used as guinea pigs in an
experiment to implement standards
which were never field tested, are copyrighted, were not created using
a democratic process, and were not created with the input of classroom
teachers. Furthermore, the Common Core standards have placed unrealistic
expectations on our youngest learners, many who now view themselves as
failures, because they are unable to meet the developmentally inappropriate expectations set by the Common Core standards.
I also refuse to administer the PARCC because I believe that
participation in such testing gives the test credibility – of which it
has none. The PARCC test was designed to assess the Common Core
standards which are not grounded in research, nor are they
internationally benchmarked. Furthermore, there is no evidence
that the Common Core standards, Common Core curriculum and Common Core
testing, will in any way close the achievement gap. It will do the
opposite. By funneling all of our tax dollars to corporations for
curriculum, tests and technology to implement the test, we have ignored
the elephant standing in the middle of the room – the number of homeless
school children in Colorado, which has more than tripled in the last decade. The poverty rate
of black children stands at approximately 40% while the poverty rate
of Latino children is approximately 30%. Colorado also has the third
fastest growing rate of childhood poverty in the nation. We know quite clearly that children who have quality nutrition, healthcare, as well as access to books
via libraries with certified librarians, and all the other resources
provided to children in particular zip codes, actually, have done quite
well on standardized tests in the past. Yet, we continue to ignore this
fact, and we continue to feed our children living in poverty only tests.
In order to pay for these tests, technology, and curriculum, we strip
our schools of much needed resources such as books, small class size,
librarians, nurses, counselors and more. Closing the achievement gap
requires closing the resource gap.
As we consider closing the achievement gap, it’s important to
recognize that New York has administered the Common Core test two years
in a row, both years resulting in approximately a 70% failure rate
state-wide. Our achievement gap is increasing. And we continue to funnel our money away from the schools and directly into the pockets of profiteers.
I am responsible for making pedagogical decisions to support the
learning of students and adult learners on a daily basis; the state and
federal mandates currently in place hamper my ability to do what is best
for learners. There are better ways to assess children. Currently, the
assessments being used assess only narrow learning, derived through
continual test prep in our classrooms. They assess what matters least,
and such learning will not create innovative thinkers or citizens who
can salvage our democracy.
I believe that refusing PARCC is the first step in taking down the
Common Core boondoggle which streamlines student data (violating the
privacy of children) to create more profit for the corporations. I also
believe that refusing to administer PARCC is the first step in saving
our profession, which is being hijacked in numerous ways by those who
know a lot about increasing profit, but who know nothing about teaching
children.
Our children are not gaining from the Common Core standards,
curriculum, and testing; instead, I see corporations profiting
immensely, along with politicians and various other individuals who have
jumped on the Common Core train. The link between the Common Core
standards, curriculum, and testing, is inextricable. They are linked
together intentionally in order to increase profit. Public education is
the new cash cow; privatization is the end goal. We must begin to take
down this profit machine by beginning with the data the corporations so
dearly love. No data. No profit. I will not hand over Colorado’s
children (and their data) to the corporations via federal mandates.
I encourage everyone who stands with me to sign in the comment
section below. I also encourage everyone to share the letter with
national and state leaders. However, I do not believe that change will
come from the top, which is why I have addressed this letter to you, the
citizens of Colorado. We must be the change. Sometimes change requires
risk.
I must do right by the children of Colorado and the teachers of Colorado, therefore, I refuse to administer the PARCC.
Peggy Robertson
Public School Teacher
Aurora, Colorado
www.pegwithpen.com
www.corave.org
www.unitedoptout.com
