By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
We saw it before during the great ammo magazine ban debate, Save Jerseyans:
Youngsters routinely have more sense than legislators.
The latest example: on Monday, shortly before the legislature advanced measures designed to regulate the widely-reviled Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams, South Brunswick eighth-grader Jessica Rodgers relayed her problems with the test as well as the challenges faced by those who had opted out.
“Since February of this year, time has been taken out of our day to practice for the PARCC test. We have had to sit down in front of computers and go through the test during normal class periods,” Jessica explained to members of the Senate Education Committee. “Many times, the computers failed and we just sat there until our teachers and principal could figure out the problems. Did you know that the tests are actually 3-5 grade levels above the tested grade? Did you know we had to read the test on an 11” screen Chromebook vs. a 15” screen? I’ve provided a print out of the size of the screen for you along with the 9 item instructions for Math. Try reading that size font for 3 hours and remembering these instructions.”
“While this was happening in school, our parents were fighting for our right to not sit and stare if we choose not to take the test. Our superintendent finally agreed to allow those of us who choose to not take the test to sit and read. But there was a catch,” the 14-year old continued. “We had to read what the district wanted us to read. We were not allowed to read our literature books. So, for example I had to read a book on apes and ‘Fashion Throughout the Years’ instead of my assigned literature book, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird.'”
Imagine the future students like Jessica could build if we weren’t wasting their potential? And spying on them? When all they WANT to do is learn…
It’s infuriating.
Click here to watch her testimony.
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Yes! She is exactly right. Thank you for posting. So many parents are in the dark on this.
I have read so many negatives on PARCC and know so many who want it gone for one reason or another that I wonder why our elected officials and the Governor’s Department of Education ignore the people. Same with the ‘pump your own gas’ Over 60% have said no in a survey and yet they persist. Obviously the opinion of a common resident/voter is not the focus of these state people. FOLLOW THE MONEY.