Northampton, MA - In the wake of the Northampton School Committee's recent vote not to implement PARCC testing during the 2014-2015 school year, the Northampton Public Schools Action coalition is hosting a community discussion with the school committee (with moderator Kelsey Flynn) about the impacts of PARCC, the Common Core State Standards and high stakes testing on Northampton students, teachers and schools. This public discussion will be held in the Jackson Street School library at 7:00pm on Wednesday June 18th.
Parent groups, teachers unions, school committees and other elected officials across the state of Massachusetts as well as across the nation are taking positions on the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and their associated high stakes test - the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment for Readiness for College and Careers), the latest iteration of education reform policy that results in a doubling down of high stakes testing that has been on the rise since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and through the Obama administration's Race To The Top (RTTT) competition. These high stakes assessments involve an increase in the amount of time students spend in both test preparation and in test-taking (implementation of PARCC will result in a doubling of test time for students), an increase in tying teacher evaluations to test scores, and the so-called "success" of schools based on these scores rather than more authentic measures of teaching and student learning.
Teachers, parents, students and education scholars are increasingly expressing concern that the CCSS (and PARCC tests) are not developmentally appropriate, and further disadvantage students based on socioeconomic background as well as learning abilities. They have also pointed out the giant profit generating opportunities of these standards, their associated curriculum, and the tests themselves, for companies such as education giant Pearson. A primary concern of these policies is that they are increasing school segregation, privatizing public schools and undermining democratic practices based on very narrow quantitative measures.
The Northampton Public Schools Action Coalition is a group of parents, teachers and school staff across the Northampton Public Schools who are committed to fighting for increased equity in our district. This community discussion is intended to open up space for education and awareness about federal and state education policy and its impact on our students, teachers and schools. Contact PSAC at northamptonpsac@gmail.com or find out more and discover resources at http://northamptonpublicedaction.wordpress.com
