Letters Protesting Read to Achieve from a Parent and a Student

A concerned parent of a 3rd grader agreed to share the letter she sent to NC lawmakers.  I edited out only identifying information.

To Politicians Making Decisions Regarding Education:

My name is (parent name), and my family and I reside in the (district number) in North Carolina. My son is a third grade student at (an) Elementary School in (a NC) County. In July of 2012, the Excellent Public Schools Act became law in North Carolina with the Read to Achieve program a part of this law to be implemented during the 2013-2014 school year.

According to the law, students who fail the End of Grade test in 3rd grade are given the opportunity to pass third grade with the aide of assessments collected for student portfolios through Read to Achieve reading passages. Students are administered 36 reading passages throughout the year along with Reading 3D and Dibels reading assessments.

 Attached to this email is a letter stating my child, (name of child) shall be exempt from completing any additional Read to Achieve reading tests.

 As an educated parent with an advanced degree and National Board Certification, I find 36 reading tests to be an extremely poor measure of my child's thinking, reasoning, and problem solving skills. According to the Excellent Public Schools Act, the criteria for testing is based on college and career readiness skills; however, I am unaware of any career where employees report for work and take a written test three times a week.

 My son has already been given several Read to Achieve passages, and while he has passed all passages, he has learned no content during this time. As the law states, students who do not pass the test are given additional passages on the same curriculum strand to attempt passage again. My son, along with half a dozen other students, remain in the classroom and read while students attempt make up tests. His teacher cannot provide instruction to him or others while students are testing, so these children sit idle waiting for other students to complete make up tests. If he were to pass all 36 reading passages, which would likely happen provided I allow him to continue testing, there would be no need for him to take the End of Grade test as his reading ability would surely have been demonstrated with the passing of 36 reading passages and Reading 3D and Dibels assessments.

 My child has never been a Tier 2 or Tier 3 child; he does not require reading remediation, and I will not subject him to daily continuous testing that lacks any college or career readiness skills. I would however be happy to have my child complete projects in all content areas to demonstrate his mastery of Common Core Curriculum providing his teacher is given time to instruct her students on the curriculum.

My district representatives are also receiving copies of this letter. Thank you for your time and consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any additional questions or comments.

 Sincerely,

 (Concerned Parent)
*I am planning to include the letter this parent sent to her principal, along with some other information in a separate post (I wanted to double check for her permission).  If you would like a copy of this letter now, please email me at amiller123@hotmailDOTcom.

The following was left in the comments on this blog containing a letter from a 3rd grade student.  I edited out names/locations.

When my daughter, a third grader broke down in the car this afternoon because she was so upset about her "state tests" she has to take tomorrow, I did everything I could to calm her down. I ensured her that she was prepared to take the test. My daughter is consistently performing well above her grade level in all areas. As the tears streamed down her face, I thought to myself, "What would I advise my high school students to do if they were upset about policy???" I would encourage them to be active in their communities and to not complain without a solution. So, this is what I proposed to her....she wanted to write a letter to you...
Dear Governor:
I just wanted to say that I'm really stressed out about all my tests. I would love to sit down and talk about the tests. My Mom and I have talked and I feel a lot better about them but I am concerned about my classmates that do not have the same support that I have at home. My teachers have been a great support to everyone in third grade. This is the first year that we have had a state test and it just seems like too much all at once. We had three state tests last Friday and I have three this week. My teachers say that I will have 3 every week until the end of school. This is just so stressful. Would you consider decreasing the number of tests that we have to have per week? Thank you for taking time to read this.
Sincerely,
Third grade student

Thank you so much, parents and students, for sharing, and for contacting our legislators about the negative impacts of Read to Achieve!  Please see this post for contact information.