In response to parent concerns about the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test, the new standardized assessment for New Jersey, Moorestown Township Public Schools has updated its protocol for test refusals and test day absences.
Parents or guardians who refuse to allow their child to take the PARCC assessment should submit a written statement as soon as possible to the building principal so officials can plan accordingly. Students whose parents have submitted a statement of intent and attend school on the testing day will be marked present and provided with an alternate, supervised setting in a non-testing room where they will be asked to read quietly or work independently. Those who have not submitted a letter of intent and do not attend school will be marked absent. Those who have submitted a written statement of intent will not be required to sit for a make-up, while those who haven’t submitted one will be scheduled to sit for the missed portion of the PARCC assessment.
Also, in the past, when a student refused to take a state-mandated test, the district was required to record the test as “void” and include the student’s ID number on an “Irregularity Report.” The district will follow the recording procedures required by the state Department of Education for the PARCC assessment. Officials also assured parents the state-mandated recording of test administration would not affect a student’s class grades or placement.
These procedures are in line with one of the procedure options issued by Strauss-Esmay, which are the policy writers for the state.
This update of protocol is in response to parent forums presented at the schools to talk about PARCC as well as a Board of Education meeting where one parent, representing those concerned about refusals, asked the board to provide what its policy would be.
Jack Fairchild, a Moorestown parent as well as one of the parents who is running Moorestown’s “No More Common Core” Facebook page, was the one to address the board asking for an updated policy. According to Fairchild, he attended a few of the PARCC information sessions and noted the district was going with a “sit and stare” approach to the refusals, so he, along with other parents, engaged the media.
On Jan. 28, Fairchild said they received a letter that stated, “Presently, no law, statute or regulation exists that confers such a right upon parent/guardians, or for that matter, students, to refuse to take such assessments or tests.” Attached to the letter were testing procedures with procedure one stating, “Students who attend school, but refuse to participate in the assessment, will be asked to take it. Any student who continues to refuse shall remain in their assigned seat until the last student taking the test is finished.”
At that time, they sent strongly worded letters to the administration, spoke to legislators and continued to engage the media. Then on Feb. 6, they received the revised procedures, which accommodated refusals in a non-punitive way.
“The new policy is exactly what we hoped to see, and we thank the board and administration for listening to the voice of the people,” Fairchild said.
Superintendent Timothy Rehm said the board was not going with a “sit and stare” policy, but did realize from feedback of the forums about PARCC that the protocol needed to be updated. The board didn’t want to put students in an uncomfortable situation and decided to put them in a supervised environment where they could do educational work or read on their own. This worked in favor of not only those who refused to test, but also those who are still taking the test.
“We kept in mind what we wanted to do with our students, since the state didn’t really give much guidance, and went with the independent reading and work that would be productive in a separate environment. It also preserves the testing environment for those who are testing. It worked in favor of both students. We don’t have many refusals; I would say about 98 percent of students will be testing,” Rehm said.
He also wanted to remind parents that they are not using PARCC as a measure for passing or moving on to the next grade, since this is a new test and they aren’t sure how the data will be.
“We have multiple measures to place students until we determine the validity of the test,” Rehm said.
Rehm as well as Fairchild wanted to remind parents that though there is no date refusals need to be provided by, they are asked to provide as much notice as possible so the schools can plan accordingly, as testing starts on March 2.
