National PTA has just lost its credibility!

The PTA has grown into a powerful lobbyist over the years. My children attended Forest Oak Elementary School where I was very involved with the PTA–I served on many committees and was elected president for a total of four years. Our PTA received many awards from Delaware PTA while I was president. I have to say that I am beyond disappointed in the letter that was sent to the DE PTA. I never thought I would see the day that a national association who’s primary mission is to advocate on behalf of children would send this message to parents!

Below is from the National PTA website where they speak of family engagement. The letter they sent seems to point towards family disengagement.

Today’s PTA is a network of millions of families, students, teachers, administrators, and business and community leaders devoted to the educational success of children and the promotion of family engagement in schools. 

Here is the letter that was sent to Delaware PTA.

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Questions from DE PTA to National PTA and National PTA’s response.

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I will be supporting House Bill 50 Veto Override Today!

Today, in the House, there will be an attempt at overriding Governor Markell’s veto of House Bill 50, Parent Opt Out bill. I will be voting yes to the override. House Bill 50 originally passed the House 36 Yes, 3 No (Barbieri, Dukes, and Jaques) and 2 absent.  I don’t agree with the Governor vetoing House Bill 50 and his reasons behind his veto. I am for useful assessments; assessments that will provide meaningful data that can be used to direct resources to our schools, to our classrooms and to individual students. I am hopeful that my colleagues in the House will join me in overriding House Bill 50 veto today!

What’s going on in Dover this week!

Today, David Bentz was sworn in as the State Representative representing the 18th District, he replaces Rep. Mike Barbieri. Former Rep. Barbieri stepped down from his seat during the summer to become the new director of the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.

Tomorrow, House Bill 186, charter audit bill, will be heard in the Senate Education Committee, I am hopeful it will be released from the committee. We have seen the abuse that has taken place with some of our charter schools using taxpayer funds inappropriately. Currently, charter schools hire their own auditors, they are not required by law to go through the State Auditor’s Office.  All Delaware school districts including votechs go through the State Auditor’s Office for their audits.

Thursday, Rep. Kowalko will attempt to override Governor Markell veto on House Bill 50, Opt Out bill.

Letter from State PTA to Delaware Legislators asking Them to Support House Bill 50 Veto Override

Good Morning Everyone,

Happy New Year. As you begin the new legislative session,  I would like to share the number one thing that is weighing on parent’s minds this year; the ability for a parent’s right to choose to opt out of the state assessment, SBAC.

Delaware PTA is very aware that the way the law reads now they can opt out however, they do so with a fear of repercussions and penalties for their children and their children’s schools.  They do so with no protection from threats. They do so with no guarantee of constructive instruction while other students test. Parents want to exercise choices when it comes to their children’s education. Our membership of over 8000  finds no value in SBAC. We appreciate the assessment inventory task force however, did you know there is no PTA representative on this task force. There is no representation solely of parents. How can this be permitted? So we, as parents, turn to you to make this right.

As an aside, Delaware PTA is not opposed to assessments. We understand they are necessary to measure the progress of our children. However, SBAC is not a valid growth measure, does not inform instruction, and the results are received by parents after their child begins a new school year and is promoted. These are just a few reasons we do not support the use of SBAC.

Parents want the choice of opting their children out of the the state assessment. This is something you all voted on and it was passed by a majority vote in The House last Spring. That was the  democratic process at work. The Senate then voted to pass the bill. The veto by Governor Markell was disrespectful to the democratic process. The people spoke, but the Governor did not listen. When HB#50 passed there were hundreds of your constituents all thrilled that you listened to their voices.Thank you for that. Now it is time to listen to them again. Please make this right by voting to override the Governor’s veto of HB#50

With all due respect to Governor Markell, he ignored the voice of the parents, and quite frankly of the General Assembly. It is wrong on so many levels. I am confident you will make this right. We are asking all of you to vote in favor for first, suspending the rules and second , in favor of an override of the veto of HB#50.

Delaware PTA will be presenting a petition signed by hundreds of parents from up and down Delaware this Thursday Jan 14, 2016. We would like to invite each of to join us at a rally on the steps of Legislative Hall at 1 pm that same day. We invite you to listen to the voices of parents and to speak if you so choose on this issue.

Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to making a difference together.

Best Regards,
Yvonne Johnson
National PTA Board of Directors
Immediate Past President Delaware PTA
VP for Advocacy Delaware PTA
Region VP for Red Clay ( acting)
State President’s Club Secretary/Treasurer
T- 302-753-7107
yjohnson@delawarepta.org

johnsonyvonneb@gmail.com

yjohnson@pta.org

The Washington Post article chimes in about DE Parents Opting Out and the needed data!

I am a parent of two DE public school children, I am a former DE PTA president, a former Red Clay school board member, I am currently a DE State Representative and Vice Chair of the House Education Committee. I found this article to be quite interesting. The writers of this piece truly do not understand what is going on here in Delaware regarding the current state assessment and the ignored and meaningless data that is produced from it.

The Washington Post article states that opting out “undermines the collection of the needed data.” I find that sentence just fascinating! I wonder if the authors of this piece understand that the needed data comes after the student has moved on to the next grade level. The needed data arrived in the mail addressed to the parent after their child moved on to the next grade or moved up to another school. If the parent had questions about the needed data, who should the parent talk to -the student’s new teacher who just started teaching the student or last year’s teacher who is teaching new students? Do the writers understand that this test which produces the needed data does not measure growth?

In the article Governor Markell states, “Assessments are an important tool for teachers and families to have.” I would agree, if these assessments were a useful tool. If the assessment gave meaningful data to a teacher immediately on individually students, I would agree. My question to the writers, how is this a useful tool if the test comes seven months later, after the student has been promoted to the next  grade? What are we learning from this needed data? Is the state developing educational programs from this needed data or are we just going to continue to label schools with this needed data? Are we going to continue to tell communities that your school is failing with this needed data? Are we going to tell these communities that we are going to continue to collect the needed data for another 20 years ignoring what we already know that we do not properly fund what the needed data has been telling us for years -that there is no funding for ELL students, we do not fund Basic Special Education Kindergarten through 3rd grade, and that we have been ignoring poverty since the needed data has been collected?  So why would anyone continue to support this state assessment when the needed data has been screaming at us for years what our state needs? These are the questions these folks from The Washington Post should have asked the Governor instead of telling Delaware parents it is not ok to opt out!

Delaware should not make it okay for parents to opt their kids out of testing

 

SAT to replace Smarter in 11th grade in Delaware, less testing is a good thing but are there unintended consequences?

Is this a great move or not, I really do not know because there has been no discussion and I have many questions that have not been answered. We do not know the unintended consequences that will come from this announcement. While I support removing all testing from a junior’s plate, I am not sure I am comfortable using SAT as a way to measure student success, teacher success, a school success or a district’s success. How will we measure growth? Also, who is going to continue to pay for this when the State of Delaware decides they can no longer afford to pay for this. This initiative was originally funded through the Race to the Top grant.

Last year, the Governor announced that Delaware colleges agreed to use the Smarter Balance Assessment as a way to measure college readiness as Delaware students entered college. Students would be able to opt out of remedial courses if they were to score at a certain level on the Smarter Balanced Assessment, what happened to that great idea?

I feel like we just keep jumping from one idea to another, never really looking into the pros and the cons. This is not the best way to run government.

This, in my opinion, is just another way for the Governor to stop House Bill 50, the bill he vetoed, from being overridden.

Below is the press release from the Governor’s Office.

 

The SAT will replace the Smarter Assessment as the state test for high school juniors beginning this spring.

The change comes at the request of legislators and as the state continues to look for ways to reduce testing, particularly for 11^th graders who already were taking both exams as part of Delaware’s state-funded School Day SAT program.

The College Board, the nonprofit that administers the college entrance exam, is launching a redesigned SAT this spring that is aligned to the Common Core State Standards, the academic expectations for what Delaware students should know and be able to do at the completion of each grade level. The changes to the SAT also include a move away from obscure “SAT vocabulary words” to the use of relevant vocabulary words in context, an in-depth focus on essential areas of math and the elimination of the guessing penalty.

“Our students deserve an exam that helps them gauge their college and career readiness, and our teachers deserve an exam that provides them with the information they need to guide their instruction. This is one example of how we are reducing the testing burden on our students and teachers,” Secretary of Education Steven Godowsky said. “This is a smart solution that ensures our educators, students and families get the information they need while mitigating the over-testing concern many share.

The state will continue to administer the Smarter Assessment in grades 3 to 8.

Delaware has been administering a school-day SAT to all public school juniors at no cost to students since 2011. Godowsky said making the transition to use the SAT as the accountability test this year is based on the feedback of elected leaders, educators and families. Last week, 10 legislators sent a letter to Gov. Jack Markell asking to replace the 11^th grade Smarter exam with the SAT.

“Our community was clear that this was in the best interest of our high school juniors and the sooner we could make the switch the better,” Godowsky said. “This decision is in response to that feedback.”

Gov. Jack Markell, who launched a statewide assessment inventory process last spring, said, “We believe that the concerns about the testing burden on our juniors are well founded.  We also agree that this move is a smart, commonsense way to reduce the testing burden significantly without sacrificing our ability to understand whether we are serving our students well and whether they are making the progress they need to be successful.  I have asked Secretary Godowsky to immediately designate the SAT as our 11th grade assessment and take all necessary steps to implement the change so that, beginning this year, juniors will no longer take Smarter Balanced.  The department will seek federal approval for this change in our state assessment as quickly as possible and otherwise ensure that the transition goes smoothly in schools across the state.”

Under Delaware’s former state test, the Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System (DCAS), 9^th and 10^th graders were tested. When the state moved to Smarter in Spring 2015, 11^th grade became the singular testing year for high school. But many said that proved overwhelming for juniors, who also take Advanced Placement exams, the SAT, SAT subject tests, the ACT and other tests during their 11^th grade year.

New Castle County Vo-Tech Superintendent Vicki Gehrt, president of the Delaware Chief School Officers Association, said superintendents in the state are in support of substituting the SAT in lieu of the Smarter Assessment as the required assessment for high school students.  This shift both gives teachers more time to provide necessary instruction and eases the load on our high school students with respect to the annual assessments they already must take.

State Board of Education President Dr. Teri Quinn Gray said students and families value the SAT.

“The redesigned SAT provides important information students, parents and educators want and need to understand students’ college, career and civic readiness. For that reason, it is already valued by parents and students.  In addition, by using this test as the high school assessment for English language arts and math, we will reduce the amount of required testing and costs to the state,” Gray said.

Last spring, the General Assembly passed and Governor Markell signed into law Senate Joint Resolution 2, requiring an inventory and review of all assessments currently administered at the state, district and school level “with the goal of decreasing the testing burden on students and teachers and increasing time available for teaching.”

This work continues. Districts and charter schools, which were eligible for supporting state grants, submitted their assessment inventories, recommendations, and impact information to the state at the end of December. The department has convened an assessment inventory committee with representatives from the House and Senate education committees, Delaware State Education Association, state superintendents, civil rights community and parents to make recommendations. The state’s final report must be published by June 2016.

Sen. David Sokola, chair of the Senate Education Committee, and Rep. Earl Jaques, chair of the House Education Committee, lauded today’s announcement.

“This is the kind of change legislators were seeking when we approved SJR 2 to create a task force to fully review our student testing,” Sokola said. “This is a good first step toward removing burdens on our students and increasing instruction time for teachers, while also providing them with the important metrics needed to gauge student progress.”

Jaques agreed, “This decision eliminates duplicative testing and reduces over-testing while helping to ease student stress and parental concerns.”

The department has posted information and will continue updating its website with information, including resources for districts/charters and the public, regularly. Educators or families with questions may email assessment@doe.k12.de.us or call (302) 857-3391.

As students prepare for the spring SAT, they also have some extra help this year. A partnership with Khan Academy and the College Board offerspersonalized SAT preparation based on students’ PSAT results. Delaware also provides the PSAT free to all public school 10^th graders.

Alison May
alison.may@doe.k12.de.us
(302) 735-4006

Sign the Petition Supporting the Override of Delaware HB50 Veto – Opt Out Bill

Please take a minute to sign the petition, I signed it and I hope you will as well.

Sign the petition to override Delaware House Bill 50 Veto.

The below was taken from the Delaware PTA Petition page.

It is a parent’s fundamental right to direct the education and upbringing of their children!

HB 50 was legislation sponsored by Rep John Kowalko which provided a consistent process to allow Delaware parents to opt their child(ren) out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment without fear of punishment or reprisal from district and school administration. The Bill also required meaningful academic instruction for those students not participating in the test. In its simplest form, HB 50 would secure a parent’s right to opt their child(ren) out of the assessment if they believe it is in the best interest of their child. The Bill acknowledged the parent’s right to protect their child from unnecessary and harmful tests. At its core, HB 50 was proposed legislation that would place students first.

With an overwhelming majority (86% in the House and 71% in the Senate), the bill passed at the end of June. Yet, despite the vote of the General Assembly and the strong public support expressed for HB 50 by educators through DSEA, parents and families, the state PTA, and school administrations the Governor vetoed this bill.

HB 50 was, and is, not about one specific test – the Smarter Balanced Assessment, despite what opponents would suggest.  Supporters of the bill are not suggesting or encouraging parents to opt out of state assessments, whether it’s the SBA or another assessment.  Rather, we believe this is the right of the family and a decision that should be left in the capable hands of parents to decide what is best for their children.

Delaware PTA, as well as the majority of HB 50 supporters, is not, and never has been anti-assessment. We support standardized tests, if they are limited, developmentally appropriate and provide useful instructional feedback. The Smarter Balanced Assessment does none of this. Assessments, regardless of which one is used, have to be judged against their intended uses. The SBAC was not designed to meet the needs of students and teachers; it was designed to meet the needs of the state, to allow state level and inter-consortia comparisons of student performance. For years parents and teachers were led to believe that No Child Left Behind and Race To The Top initiatives would help identify at risk students and schools, allowing state officials to direct resources and supports to our most neediest schools in an attempt to reduce the achievement gap. In fact, all that has happened under these initiatives were attempts to label, punish and close our schools. Yet, we are to believe that the new Smarter Balanced Assessments will do more than prior assessments and initiatives, and that the Smarter Balanced Assessments are necessary to reduce the achievement gap.

However, regardless of our beliefs about the Smarter Balanced Assessment, the issue at hand is the parent’s right. Current state code does not contain any language that prohibits the parent/guardians from opting their student out of the state assessment. Many school and district officials have already confirmed that they cannot and will not force a student to participate in the assessment. HB 50 simply codifies this – ensuring that the decision maintains the parent’s.