ICE PAC
/Help spread the word on test refusals beyond ICE!
In case you missed it, ICE PAC announced in the last edition of this newsletter that 89% of ICE middle school students had refused the New York State ELA tests. (It actually turns out to be 90%, but that's not the subject of this item.) Families in other schools around the city may not have realized they had the right to refuse or were incentivized or intimidated not to opt out. In fact, the scare tactics reached such heights that NY's highest education officials were compelled to issue a statement reaffirming parent rights of refusal (and chastising school and district actors who have blocked information, or worse, misled parents).
While that statement is appreciated, it is long overdue and we're not sure it will make it to parents on the ground. So, in advance of the math tests in early May, we at ICE PAC ask YOU to help get the word out. Do you have children at another school? Does your neighbor have a 5th grader? Your sister an 8th grader? Let them know that they can refuse the math tests even if they took the ELA. (And for the record, word on the street and online is that the ELA tests were BAD: children as young as 8 testing from 8:30 to 2:30 with just a brief lunch break, students staying beyond dismissal, passages rated at reading levels multiple grades above that of the children being tested, and computer system malfunctions so egregious the state had to suspend computer-based test administration.)
Need resources to help you out on this mission? Check out NYC Opt Out on Facebook or Twitter or optoutnyc.com on the web.
