I’m writing to tell you about Resa Woodruff, a parent of a 3rd grader who attends an elementary school in Bloomfield, Indiana. Resa and her husband have recently decided to opt their child out of the ISTEP+ testing taking place at their son’s school this week. Resa’s calling to engage in civil disobedience is due to her growing awareness of how standardized testing has impacted the quality of her son’s learning experience at school. She feels the pressure put on children at a very young age to participate in this testing mandate is wrong and disagrees with the way the test is used to rate schools and teachers. One of the messages that Resa posts proudly on her Facebook page is “believing we can improve schooling with more tests is like believing you can make yourself grow taller by measuring your height.” (Robert Schaeffer of FAIRTEST). This summarizes what is driving this family’s decision to say no to the testing. She has asked the Superintendent of Bloomfield Schools and Principal of her son’s school to respectfully honor their right to guide the upbringing and education of their child. In her letter to the principal she stated, “We feel we must act on our convictions and engage in civil disobedience rather than be coerced in participating in a testing system that is deeply flawed morally and pedagogically, the result of corporate greed and political agendas that do not serve our children or anyone else’s. We acknowledge we have a right to guide the upbringing and education of our children and the Supreme Court has upheld this right. According to the U.S Constitution, specifically the 14th Amendment, We are protected by our rights to religious/spiritual freedom and this federal law supersedes state in regard to parental control over one’s child. Under the law, you cannot deny our request.” At this point, Resa and her husband intend to take their child to school this week and have requested that the school respectfully honor their right to refuse this test. At this point, the Superintendent of Schools has agreed to allow her son to spend time in the library while the testing takes place because they know they cannot force a child to take the test. This response from the Superintendent is hopeful in that they are acknowledging to some degree the right for individuals to say “no” to testing. One of the unfortunate aspects of this case is that the school is forced to calculate an “F” on the test due to non-participation by the child. Please consider contacting the Bloomfield Superintendent tomorrow and let him know that you support this parent‘s right to opt their child out of ISTEP and you appreciate their willingness to cooperate with this family’s decision. In addition, we need to contact the State Superintendent and let her know that parents should have a right to “opt out” without a penalty being forced upon the school. We need to insist to our legislators and the IDOE that schools should not be penalized when parents opt their children out of testing. Can we find a legislator who would introduce such a bill? Parents and administrators are both being put at odds in this situation. Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Glenda Ritz [email protected] Superintendent of Bloomfield Schools, Dan Sichting [email protected] Bloomfield Elementary School Principal, Mary Jane Vandeventer [email protected] In addition, consider sending a message to Resa Woodruff and let her know that you are in support of her family’s courageous action and her right to guide her child’s upbringing. I’m sure this will help her tomorrow as she continues to deal with the pressure of opting her child out of testing. What she is doing is not easy to navigate.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 00:55:42 +0000
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