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While I do find the article to be from an interesting perspective, it falls short of asking the real question. Why? The real issue that needs to be looked at is, why is there such an opt out movement at this time? Surely this is not the first state test that our children have taken. If you look closer, the answer is obvious; this is the first core aligned state test. Some of our children have not had that much experience with the core curriculum and are now being held accountable to those standards.

Then you have to look at the company responsible for making these tests. Pearson, the corporation responsible for these tests, has a poor track record. According to a Daily News article, “Testing giant Pearson botched grading the entrance exams to the city’s gifted and talented programs, Education officials said Friday, shutting out about 2,700 kids who qualified for the coveted programs.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/exam-error-shuts-2-700-gifted-talented-programs-article-1.1322573#ixzz2SuyIoY9D

Also in a Wall Street journal article, “To date, 29 questions have been invalidated on various third- through eighth-grade math and English tests, which are used in New York City to determine whether students are promoted to the next grade.”

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304203604577394492500145150.html

Also according to the Huffington post, “ Public Advocate Bill de Blasio in a statement called on the city to reexamine its relationship with Pearson. "Pearson has an increasingly checkered record with these tests. We were given the same assurances of quality control and heightened standards after last year's problems," de Blasio said.”

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/pearson-testing-errors-new-york_n_3132744.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&ir=Education

Let us not forget about last years test where there was a talking pineapple. The moral to the story was that a pineapple doesn’t have arms. It seems the company does not only have trouble in New York. A Huffington post article cited problems all over the country from as far back as 2000, “Florida fined Pearson $4 million because of delays in test score delivery. In Washington, over two hundred thousand writing exams had to be rescored. In Minnesota, Pearson misgraded 45,739 graduation tests, which resulted in a lawsuit with a $11 million settlement. The judge hearing the case found that there had been "years of quality control problems" and a "culture emphasizing profitability and cost-cutting." The article goes on to list many more errors with the corporation.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/enough-is-enough-pearson-_b_3146434.html

With so many errors and a poor track record, one would wonder why would NY sign a contract with such a company. The answer is simple, not only does Pearson have a poor history of testing they also have a deep connection to lobbying in Washington. According to a Huffington post article, Sandy Kress, is a key player in the orchestration of No Child Left Behind, and then became a lobbyist for Pearson. It didn’t stop there, “Kress advised Bush as governor, and when Bush became president, Kress -- as a former Democratic Party official in Dallas -- lobbied Ted Kennedy to support NCLB. He enjoyed a smooth transition into lobbying and has enjoyed an insider role in Perry's administration, serving on state advisory boards and commissions that invariably found that the way to improve schools was more testing. Few seemed to mind his dual role as education adviser and Pearson lobbyist. It never caused a stir when Kress would testify before the legislature as a member of the state advisory panels in favor of more testing, leaving his status as a lobbyist for the testing company unstated. And with Kress advising Texas politicians to up the ante on testing, Pearson won increasingly large contracts that ended up totaling $980 million.”

Read full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-stanford/sandy-kress_b_3069159.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

One would wonder how could a corporation hold so much power, Huffington post reported, “Pearson money, both from the corporation and from the foundation, gives it tremendous political influence over educational policy decisions in the United States. Michael Winerip reported in The New York Times that the Pearson Foundation was paying to send school officials on free trips to international conferences where Pearson products were promoted and they met with Pearson executives. According to a report in The Texas Observer, "Pearson has it all -- and all of it has a price. For statewide testing in Texas alone, the company holds a five-year contract worth nearly $500 million to create and administer exams. If students should fail those tests, Pearson offers a series of remedial-learning products to help them pass. Meanwhile, kids are likely to use textbooks from Pearson-owned publishing houses like Prentice Hall and Pearson Longman. Students who want to take virtual classes may well find themselves in a course subcontracted to Pearson. And if the student drops out, Pearson partners with the American Council on Education to offer the GED exam for a profit."

Read full article here; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/enough-is-enough-pearson-_b_3146434.html

As a parent that does not have testing age children, I am saddened by all of this. At what point do we stop testing our children to profit corporations? The whole movement really makes one wonder what is really going on here. So yes, it is civil disobedience. At least we know that we need to stand up for our children and stop this lose - lose situation.

From: Merrick parents testing the limits

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