NJ Education Report

Jonah Edelman, the father of two children taking Common Core-aligned assessments (he’s also a writer for the Daily Beast), parses the politics of the  Opt-Out movement and urges parents to ignore the left and right-wing “noise machines”:

Right now, interest groups with ulterior motives are encouraging parents to opt out of the next generation of “smart” tests being rolled out across the country… 

Given the quality and value of the Smarter Balanced and PARCC tests, it pains me that some teachers’ associations are passing resolutions and/or paying for slanted TV ads encouraging parents to opt out. 

Equally disappointing is the demagoguery by Tea Party groups and pundits who’ve launched their own assessment misinformation campaigns. 

The fear mongering ads and overheated rhetoric don’t stem from problems with the actual new tests. 

The pushback on the Left is motivated by opposition to tying student test results to teachers’ evaluations. On the Right, it’s driven by a broader anti-government ideological agenda. 

Whatever the motivation, it certainly isn’t productive, as it’s adding to parent and student anxiety, fostering parent misunderstanding, and encouraging a small percentage of parents (who are getting outsized media attention) to opt children out of tests, which isn’t in the best interest of their children, their schools, and public education as a whole.