ONTARIO, Ohio–Starting Feb. 16, the Common Core related assessments known as Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) will be given to students. But as dozens of parents discovered Saturday, their child does not necessarily have to take the tests.
During a meeting at the Ontario Public Library, State Rep. Mark Romanchuk; Heidi Huber, founder of Ohioans Against Common Core; Rob Coburn, president of Garaway School District’s Board of Education; and Marianne Gasiecki, state co-coordinator of Tea Party Patriots, spoke to people about opting their children out of the PARCC assessments.
“The schools have to legally administer [the assessments], but parents don’t have to make their kids take it,” Gasiecki said.
In a previous interview, John Charlton, the Ohio Department of Education’s Associate Director for Media Relations, said parents may opt their children out of the testing; however, he qualified, “The consequences are there. For instance, if you have a third grader and you opt them out of the reading assessment, then they would be eligible to be retained because they do not meet the required score for the third grade reading guarantee.”
Romanchuk agreed, “They could conceivably hold a child back if they don’t take the third grade reading guarantee. That’s the only grade where they can stop the promotion to the next level.”
Gasiecki noted that if a third grader scored proficient (400) or higher on the Fall Reading Ohio Achievement Assessment (OAA), it is optional for districts to administer the Spring Reading OAA to those students.
The Garaway School District has many parents who are opting their children out of the PARCC assessments, Coburn said.
“We as a board have come to an agreement that parents drive the education of their children, so why would we ever try to block a parent from saying they don’t want their child to participate,” he asked.
Many members of the Garaway Schools’ administration oppose the Common Core standards, he said, including the superintendent, treasurer, high school principal and every board member. Coburn said the Garaway Board of Education passed a resolution expressing opposition to the standards and aligned assessments earlier this year.
Similar action was seen in December of last year by the Ontario Board of Education, which also passed a resolution expressing opposition to the standards and aligned assessments.
Gasiecki, who serves on the Ontario board, commented, “It was because of my vocal opposition to Common Core that I got elected to the school board.”
Prior to becoming a board member, she attended the board meetings and was often the only person who would address the board about the standards, she said. However, eventually, more and more parents started attended the meetings and voicing their concerns about Common Core, she said.
One parent was able to collect over 200 signatures of Ontario School District parents for a petition against Common Core in about a week and a half, she noted.
She encouraged people to consider what action they can take in their school districts to make their voices heard, noting, “You have authority over your child’s education, and you need to voice that authority.”
She added that the school board is responsible to the community, “So if your school board is not listening, you need to make them understand.”
Common Core Opposition
The Common Core standards, which were adopted by Ohio in 2010, is a set of educational standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy. According to the Common Core State Standards Initiative’s website (2010), “The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live.”
Opposition to the standards has been growing stronger since their implementation.
Gasiecki said, “It’s all about the money. It has nothing to with education. Kids are part of an experiment. Companies and individuals are profiteering off the backs of our children.”
Romanchuk stated, “As I dug into this thing over the last two years, it occurred to me that really the state adopted the Common Core standards in the secrecy of night. What I mean by that is it did not go through the legislature. It did not go through the normal legislative process, so you did not have a voice. Your representative did not have a chance to determine if this was the best thing for Ohio and that bothers me a little bit.”
However, he noted, “There appears to be a strong movement in the House to repeal PARCC.”
Huber called PARCC one leg of a three-legged stool. “Getting rid of PARCC does not solve our problems because the standards are aligned to any assessment, so we’re go to get PARCC’s twin,” she said.
“We have to get rid of the standards. But today, because they have done nothing to help us, we have to put a tourniquet on the bleeding so we can eventually get to the major surgery that needs to be done, and that’s what the opt-out provides.”
She encouraged people to visit optoutohio.com and follow the steps needed to opt their children out of the testing.
“It’s time for our local school boards and parents to demand that the governor and state legislature admit they were bought off by the feds, duped by a corporatist posing as philanthropist, in order to monopolize the education industry and nationalize education,” said Huber. “That is Common Core.”
