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Friday, February 19, 2016

PTA adopts position against state laws - President Obama adopts position against his own education policies - What is LAUSD to do? — PS connect

PTA adopts position against state laws - President Obama adopts position against his own education policies - What is LAUSD to do? — PS connect:

PTA adopts position against state laws - President Obama adopts position against his own education policies - What is LAUSD to do?

Now that winter has all but passed without the torrential rains we expected, Angelenos are wondering what all the fuss was about El Niño. 

The same might be said as the national standardized testing opt out movement finally reaches California. What started out in New York as a hurricane seems to have been downgraded to a chance of sprinkles here in sunny California.

But with the SBAC tests still two months away, the conversation is getting lively in school council meetings, on blogs and among policymakers.

Probably fearful of a spread of the New York movement in which over 200,000 students opted out across that state last year, the National PTA is trying to muscle parents out of exercising their legal right to opt children out of standardized tests. In January, the PTA adopted a position against state laws that give parents the right to opt out of state testing. Former US Deputy Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch says that might have something to do with the PTA receiving $1 million last October to promote Common Core assessments. This will be news to some of the less edu-policy obsessed.

Even President Obama admitted that his education policies have rained on a lot of parades, saying recently that he hears from parents who worry about "too much testing, and from teachers who feel so much pressure to teach to a test that it takes the joy out of teaching and learning. I want to fix that," he said.

The PTA says, “We highly value family engagement in education and respect the rights of parents to make decisions on behalf of their PTA adopts position against state laws - President Obama adopts position against his own education policies - What is LAUSD to do? — PS connect: