Jewell Elementary & Aurora Public Schools Skirt Law

Letter sent to Colorado State Board of Education, as well as media, senators who sponsored bill, Aurora Education Association, Aurora superintendent office and Aurora school board.

Dear Board Members,

I wrote to you last week concerning PARCC incentives that are occurring at Jewell Elementary in the Aurora Public School District. See here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/03/08/school-offers-incentives-to -get-kids-to-take-common-core-standardized-test/?utm_term=.ac09ab89615a 

The incentives are still moving forward. There is a lot to be concerned about here; it's clear that HB 15-1323 (often referred to as the opt out law) is not being followed. Jewell plans to exclude "opt out" students from PARCC rewards.

However, in addition to that, Jewell plans to have negative consequences for students who do not show great effort. How is effort determined? Trying to determine effort will be very subjective, and sadly, will impact children who need the most support. Children who have behavior issues, or simply can't sit still, may be punished simply because they cannot endure these long testing sessions. As a teacher, I can assure you that these testing sessions are brutally exhausting.

I am told that the word "extracurricular" is how Aurora is getting around the law. They believe prizes and celebrations for test participation do not count as "extracurricular."  Therefore, they believe there are no negative consequences for children. I am a bit floored by this attempt to twist the law. Raffles and parties which exclude children are clearly negative consequences for opt out children, regardless what one might think "extracurricular" refers to.

I looked up the definition of extracurricular and I'm pretty sure that raffles and parties do not fall within the normal routine of the school day at Jewell. For a district to attempt to skirt the law in such a manner is disgraceful.

I would really appreciate your help with this. If Aurora is allowed to do this, it sets a clear precedence for other districts. There should be no enticements for testing and children should not be punished for so-called low effort or opting out.  The "opt out" portion of the law is worthless if opt out children can be punished simply because someone has decided that prizes and parties are not considered extracurricular. Finally, punishing children who have "low effort" is cruel and targets our children with the most needs. This particular section of HB 15-1323 (see page 16) must be honored, otherwise more districts will move forward with such bribery and punishment.

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

Peggy Robertson
www.pegwithpen.com

Retweet to @aurorak12 please re: PARCC incentives at Jewell Elementary

If you read my post from last Sunday you will know that there is currently a PARCC incentive plan afoot in my former school, Jewell Elementary in the Aurora Public School District. The plan will reward students who show great effort on PARCC and who attend on all testing days. It will punish children who do not show great effort. It will punish students whose parents have opted them out.

As you can imagine, the children who don't show great effort will be the children who are struggling in some shape or form, whether it be due to problems at home, stresses at school, lack of food, fatigue, emotional and behavioral needs that are not addressed, the list goes on. So, our neediest children who test will be punished for lack of effort. The opt out students will be punished because their parents are refusing to allow their children to participate.

This week has been a week of attempting to shut this PARCC incentive plan down. You can read more about it in these links:

http://www.pegwithpen.com/2017/03/jewell-elementary-offers-parcc-cmas.html

Washington Post (Answer Sheet w/Valerie Strauss)

And Peter Greene did a nice piece about testing bribes here.

Currently there are lots of rumors running around so it's hard to know how this will be resolved. These PARCC incentives are not in compliance with the House Bill 15-1323 which was passed in 2015. There is some indication that Aurora believes they have skirted the law successfully because the PARCC incentives occur during school hours (HB 15-1323 states you cannot deny opt out students "extracurricular" activities, which apparently is being translated as activities after school). Jewell is planning raffle prizes and a party during school hours.

So, does that mean it's okay to punish children during school hours only? Not after school?

There are some rumors that Jewell might pull back from such a harsh stance and bend the policy a little. But the PARCC incentives will indeed remain.

This is not okay. Our children are not dogs to be given treats. Our children should not be taught that compliance is the best policy. Our children should not be taught that this test has any value whatsoever to a child's life. As Stephen Krashen states regarding these tests, "The tests only serve to enrich the oligarchy. There is no evidence that they help students."

There is plenty of evidence that they harm students.

Senator Holbert and Senator Kerr are looking into this - they both sponsored HB 15-1323. Hopefully we will hear more on this soon.

In the meantime, I would appreciate any help tweeting to @aurorak12 as well as media. You can find me on Twitter @PegwithPen. Feel free to retweet my tweets or simply create your own. We must continue to push back against policies which harm children.

Many many thanks to all of you.

Peg

Jewell Elementary offers PARCC (CMAS) Incentives

On Friday, March 3rd, Jewell Elementary parents received a letter regarding PARCC incentives. Yes - it's THAT time of year. Many Colorado schools refer to PARCC as CMAS. 

To catch new readers up to speed before I launch into the information about PARCC incentives, let me give you a quick recap. I taught at Jewell Elementary for four years. The first three years were absolutely amazing. We were working hard to become an inquiry-based democratic school. All of our hard work came crashing down in the 2015-2016 school year when we became a Relay Leadership School. All of our work, our beliefs, our identity, were erased, and we were mandated to follow the new mantra via Relay.  My position at Jewell was eliminated last year.

Needless to say, this year, 2016-2017, things have grown worse. Relay policies play a large role in the instruction at Jewell Elementary.  Teachers have minimal time to plan - most planning time is dictated. Children must now come in earlier to eat breakfast, and therefore teachers lose planning time in the morning. And of course, testing is everything. And now it is PARCC season.

The letter Jewell Elementary parents received Friday discusses two "recognition systems" that will be used during PARCC testing. One recognition system is a raffle. Students will receive tickets for attendance during testing days and tickets for putting forth their best effort on the PARCC test. At the end of  PARCC, the children's tickets will be used to raffle off baskets of goodies. Parents have been asked to donate items for the baskets, although the letter states that donations are not required. The letter specifically states that only "new" items can be donated for the basket - and that items should be five dollars or less.

The second recognition is an "Attendance and Effort Party" which will take place in April, when PARCC is finally done. Only students who have attended all testing days AND have put forth their best effort will be allowed to attend the party. The party will include games, treats, music and a bouncy castle.

I could write a complete thesis on why this is so wrong on so many levels - I'm sure many of my readers could do so as well. However, today I'm simply going to share the Colorado law, House Bill 15-1323 , signed by the governor on May 20th, 2015. 

This law specifically states:

(b) IF A PARENT EXCUSES HIS OR HER STUDENT FROM PARTICIPATING IN A STATE ASSESSMENT, A LOCAL EDUCATION PROVIDER SHALL NOT IMPOSE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES, INCLUDING PROHIBITING SCHOOL ATTENDANCE, IMPOSING AN UNEXCUSED ABSENCE, OR PROHIBITING PARTICIPATION IN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES, ON THE STUDENT OR ON THE PARENT.

Therefore.....

Students whose parents opt them out must be allowed to attend school.

Opt out students cannot be listed as unexcused.

Students who opt out CANNOT be prohibited from participating in extracurricular activities - such as raffles and little parties with bouncy castles.

Furthermore, as I reported last year, districts must have in place a policy to allow parents to opt their children out of tests. Aurora's policy last year was almost impossible to find.

HB 15-1323 states:

(8) (a) EACH LOCAL EDUCATION PROVIDER SHALL ADOPT AND IMPLEMENT A WRITTEN POLICY AND PROCEDURE BY WHICH A STUDENT'S PARENT MAY EXCUSE THE STUDENT FROM PARTICIPATING IN ONE OR MORE OF THE STATE ASSESSMENTS ADMINISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 22-7-1006.3.

The law has a lot more information as well, including how parents should be informed of what tests are being taken and so on - see pages 14-16.

I am told that other schools in the Aurora Public School District are also offering incentives for PARCC.

My heart goes out to the students and teachers who are being forced to adhere to these mandates which destroy true learning while filling the pockets of the corporations. I hope that parents will refuse to allow their children to participate in PARCC (and all other corporate testing) so that the teachers at Jewell can be allowed to teach. Parents, Jewell teachers are quite capable of telling you about your child's strengths and next steps without these corporate tests.

And bouncy castles and raffles? Please, don't insult the children and don't insult the teachers. Sadly the mantra in the public schools now is compliance to the corporate testing machine. 

I was lucky enough to teach before NCLB, I remember what teaching and learning truly can be.  If you are interested in seeing where the testing machine is headed, I recommend reading this post I wrote last year - The Opt Out Irony. Next, I recommend keeping a close eye on the blog Wrench in the Gears.

Jewell teachers, wishing you well. I miss you and the children.  Let's hope Jewell leadership quickly drops these ridiculous PARCC incentives. You deserve better. Parents - please opt your children out of these tests.