PARCC opt-out process remains the same

WEST ORANGE, NJ — Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Rutzky told the West Orange Chronicle that district students will be allowed to refuse this year’s Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exam, clarifying statements he had made during the last Board of Education meeting which some parents had interpreted to mean that refusing PARCC would be forbidden.

Rutzky said the district will use the same procedure for refusing PARCC as it did last year, requiring parents to submit letters informing principals that their children will not be participating in testing. The students not taking the exam will be allowed to read in separate rooms from where testing is taking place.

But the superintendent stressed that while refusing the test will be permitted — in accordance with New Jersey Secretary of Education David Hespe’s advisement that schools should not make students “sit and stare” if they do not want to take the test — the district hopes that students will take the test.

“We’re not encouraging or supporting any issue of opt-out,” Rutzky said in a Feb. 2 phone interview. “We want every child to take the test.”

The superintendent added that he understands why parents wanted to refuse the PARCC exam in its first year, when there were a lot of unknowns about the controversial standardized test. Today, however, Rutzky said the district knows what to expect, having successfully gotten through testing last year with few issues. Now that students are comfortable with the exam, and since the Common Core educational standards implemented in the classroom continue to prepare them for it, he said he hopes parents will decide against refusing this year for the benefit of the school system.

“It’s very important this year that all the students take the exam so we have their data so we can look at how we’re doing and what we can do to meet the individual needs of each student,” Rutzky said.

The revelation that students will be allowed to refuse the PARCC exam should please the many parents who were upset by the notion that refusal might not be an option. West Orange Cares About Schools co-founder Robin Isserles told the Chronicle she had found that possibility troubling considering so many parents had their children refuse last year.

And while Rutzky made clear the district would like all students to participate in this year’s testing, Isserles said that is not likely to happen. She said she knows of several parents within her organization who have already sent in refusal letters, with more intending to do so. She said some even let their children take the exam last year, but were not satisfied enough to permit them to take it again.

In fact, Isserles said she hopes the Board of Education will adopt an official PARCC refusal policy providing an easy way for parents to have their children refuse the test while offering an alternative “study hall-type” environment for refusers in which occupy themselves while testing takes place, pointing to the Montclair school district as an example. Last year’s procedure seemed to run very smoothly, she said, so making it a permanent rule parents can take advantage of should not be a problem.

“We should have something in place year-to-year,” Isserles said in a Jan. 22 phone interview. “This shouldn’t have to be a yearly fight.”

Amy McCambell is one parent who would be in favor of such a policy. McCambell had her fifth-grade daughter refuse the exam last year, and she is considering doing the same in 2016. She told the Chronicle that she was satisfied with the way the district handled refusal last time and would be glad to see the same procedure followed now. Though she would be in favor of letting the children read, she said instructional time would be preferable.

“Ideally, it would be great if there was some sort of learning experience that could happen in the times that they’re not taking the test,” McCambell said in a Jan. 23 phone interview. “Maybe there are some enrichment programs that could be offered to the kids.”

Rutzky said there are currently no plans to pass a policy, reiterating that the district does not want to encourage students to refuse PARCC.

In a few years, however, refusing PARCC may no longer be an option. Acting on the recommendations put forward by the state Study Commission on the Use of Student Assessments in New Jersey, the New Jersey Board of Education proposed new regulations last month that would make certain passing scores on PARCC testing the sole graduation requirement for high school students starting with the Class of 2021 if approved. Currently, the exam is one of a few options for assessments students can choose from in order to show competency.

Though no decision has yet been made on those regulations — the board will first hold three regional hearings to get public feedback on them — WOCAS co-founder Rachel Gordon said making PARCC the sole graduation requirement is a “horrible idea.” And considering that the number of states still using the exam is down to just seven states plus Washington, D.C. — it started with 26 states and Washington, D.C., in 2010 — Gordon also pointed out that she doubts PARCC will even be around in 2021 since it will become too costly to implement for too little gain.

“I don’t think they’ve thought this out,” Gordon told the Chronicle in a Jan. 22 phone interview.

Gordon suggested not using any standardized test to judge student competency, instead focusing on a student’s grades earned in the classroom.

Another factor that could affect PARCC participation is the U.S. Department of Education’s December 2015 letter reminding the state education department that federal school funding could be withheld if standardized test participation rates fall below 95 percent, which is a concern Rutzky said the district takes very seriously for fear that taxes could go up or school programs cut. But Gordon said she thinks the letter sounds like an empty threat, pointing out that public schools in New York — where she works as a teacher — were not penalized for falling below that mandate in the past. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing also said that it is not aware of any state that has ever had its federal funding withheld as a penalty for not testing enough students.

In addition, in November 2015 Gov. Chris Christie also passed a law mandating that no state aid could be withheld as a consequence of refusing PARCC.