PARCC ‘opt-out’ parents want policy change

At a District 97 school board meeting in March, parents of students who “opted-out”of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) during the first round of testing last month advocated that the district change its policies ahead of the next round, which starts April 27.

According to the PARCC process and procedures statement on the district’s website, students who “choose not to take the assessment […] will not be permitted to participate in an alternative activity in another room. They must remain in their classroom throughout the testing process, and will be allowed to engage in a non-disruptive activity (reading a book, drawing, etc.) only after the first student has finished testing.”

Parents of the more than 60 students in the district who opted out of the test in March have called the district’s policy “sit and stare” — a term of opprobrium that has spread as the number of students opting out across Cook County has increased. 

Recently, the Chicago Tribune featured the story of a student in Libertyville who opted-out and was made to “sit and stare.” That student’s story aligned with that of Joacquin Mendoza, 10, a student who came to the March D97 board meeting with his mother Anita Mendoza.

“PARCC, I personally think, is a waste of time,” said the 10 year old. “If you’re not taking it, it’s really boring just to wait, sit and stare, because you’re not learning anything,” adding that the reason he isn’t taking part in the test is “because there’s no point of it.” 

Anne France, a parent of three D97 students, said that the “sit-and-stare” policy broke her trust in the district. Another parent, Naomi Fothergill, said she “felt patronized and talked down to” when she came to take her son out of school during the tests. She said she was kept in a room with an administrator who “asked me questions over and over again.”

“If students can opt out, why are they getting punished with what’s basically a detention, and why is it so difficult to get my child out of class?” she said. 

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com