At 3 pm today, NC Gov. Roy Cooper will declare "public education in North Carolina is facing a state of emergency." He'll accuse the General Assembly of advancing "extreme legislation" that would "cripple" public schools. Watch at https://t.co/OeAYettDZS #nced #ncpol #ncga

When school ratings, funds, and jobs are tied to student reading and math test scores, we aren't surprised to see a narrowing of curriculum.

NCFaSTR founder, founding members, and allies spent the weekend at the @Network4pubEd conference learning & sharing with educators & advocates from around the country. Thank you @suzparkermiller @chimpsea @jenmangrumfornc @susan_book @DanConn7 for your engagement!

Dr. Congressman Jamaal Bowman: "We have the research that tells us what to do. We don't need to reimagine. We need to redesign, reconstruct, and rebuild." @Network4pubEd

Session #2 with Jeanette Deutermann (founder, Long Island Opt Out), Rep. Jamaal Bowman (NY 16th District), Dr. Michael Hynes (superintendent, Fulbright Specialist & associate prof. of education & leadership in NY), & Lisa Rudley (Executive Director, NYS Allies for Public Ed).

Session #1 with Ann Cook (executive director & co-founder of the New York Performance Standards Consortium), Danyelle Gonzalez (parent of children in performance assessment schools), Avram Barlowe (NYC teacher), & Jeanette Deutermann (founder of Long Island Opt Out).

We have some founding members of @NCTestingReform attending and presenting at the @Network4pubEd conference in Philadelphia this weekend!

1. "Federal and state laws require us to test every student. Our hands are tied." Again, yes. With shockingly limited exceptions (e.g., if a student is comatose), tests are required to be offered to all enrolled students. However, it is also your students' right to refuse.

2. "We won't know your student's growth/mastery if they refuse the test." This is another variation we've heard, and another time to refer back to the fact that educators have so much rich data on your students' performance that EOG scores are likely unnecessary.

3. "We need the scores for educational planning." We do need data for educational planning, but curriculum-based measures with speedy results are infinitely more helpful in this regard than scores received weeks to months later from a multiple-choice test.

(4 cont.) We support families and students who elect to opt-out & those who elect to work for change while continuing to take EOGs and other high-stakes tests. Opting out could be an act of civil disobedience where the larger cause may outweigh the possible negative impacts.

4. "You'll be hurting the school and teacher by refusing the test." Maybe. NC School Performance Grades, demonstrably a terrible metric of how "good" a school is, are impacted by students' EOG scores & teachers' pay/jobs are also influenced by their students' scores.

(5 cont.) Ask questions including whether educators will accept the student's first refusal & how long the student will be required to "attempt" the test before refusal is accepted and they are free to read/leave.

(5 cont.) Some allow students to refuse and use the time to read quietly. Others try to convince the student to take the test even after parent and student refusal. We encourage you to ask your students' school what refusal will look like on testing day.

5. "If your student is present on testing day, we must make every attempt to get them to take the test." Again, given no state policy and no input from @CTruittNCDPI, schools and districts interpret their "test everyone" requirements differently.

Here's an interesting piece to read regarding parents' rights in the opt-out conversation:

If your school threatens truancy reporting or placement/programming decisions based on 10 days of unexcused absences after saying the only way to refuse is to miss the entire 10-day EOG testing window, we encourage you to consult with a district-level testing administrator.

(6 cont.) We've seen schools handle the attendance issue differently all over the state and even within the same district. Some take the hardline approach above while others allow students to refuse & use the time to read or even to leave the testing session.

(6 continued) So that same NC Testing Code of Ethics states that test administrators have to give the test to every enrolled student. With no procedure for opting out, this leaves refusers and educators (test administrators) at odds.

6. "You'll have to keep your student out of school for the entire 10-day EOG testing window." (Sometimes followed by threats including reporting you to DSS for truancy!) Yikes, y'all. This one gets a little tricky.