The executive order signed by Florida’s Commissioner of Education on April 9 waives all FSA requirements for this year and grants districts great flexibility to promote third graders by means other than a test. And yet, some schools are still telling parents of remote third grade students, who have NO documented reading deficiency, that if they don’t send their proficient third graders in to school to take an in-person assessment, they’re going to be retained in the third grade.
Are school districts REALLY prepared to retain proficient third grade students with NO reading deficiency THIS YEAR? – under an executive order?
Parents – Is your school district just testing YOU now? The new parenting stamina test?
If parents have kept a child at home all year because of considerable health risks to the family during the pandemic, AND the school wants the child to take a test in person to prove what the state is not even requiring, then the parents must decide how much of a health risk they are willing to accommodate just to appease the school.
The state is not requiring that third grade students complete a test to demonstrate that they should be promoted. The order is clear. It ALSO permits “OTHER MEANS, reasonably calculated to provide reliable evidence of a student’s performance.
FACT: The Commissioner has said he would LIKE all students to test, but the executive order does not say THAT.
It bears repeating: The state is NOT REQUIRING a good cause exemption this year.
the good cause exemption process provided in s. 1008.25, Fla. Stat.,OR OTHER MEANS, reasonably calculated to provide reliable evidence of a student’s performance.
FLDOE – April 9, 2021
At last check, OR still means one or the other. Either. Not both.
When a school threatens harm to a child in order to force parents into compliance with their demands, we call that emotional blackmail. It’s bullying, it needs to STOP and YOU can stop it by shining a light on it.
Districts have publicly repeated the FLDOE’s position on “treating families with grace and compassion.” If the districts are saying one thing, but the schools are doing another, then parents need to ask the district to clarify their position to the schools.
Here’s a letter to district leadership to help you do that:
Dear Superintendent_______________,
We have kept our child at home all school year because of health concerns during the pandemic. I am being told by my son’s school that if he does not come into school for an in-person assessment to satisfy a good cause exemption, then he will be retained in the third grade.
“II. Promotion and Retention Decisions Third grade promotion. Notwithstanding the requirements found in s. 1008.25(5), Fla. Stat., a student may be promoted to grade four, regardless of the absence of an English Language Arts (ELA) assessment score or the absence of a Level 2 or higher ELA score, if the district is able to determine that a student is performing at least at Level 2 on the ELA assessment through the good cause exemption process provided in s. 1008.25, Fla. Stat., or other meansreasonably calculated to provide reliable evidence of a student’s performance.”
I am respectfully requesting that the “other means” specified in the executive order be (name’s) grades, which he earned throughout the school year and his report card, which, together, are “reasonably calculated to provide reliable evidence of a student’s performance.”
With the flexibility granted to districts by the state because of the pandemic, and in the absence of a test performed in person – are you prepared to retain a proficient student; to force him to repeat the third grade needlessly, in spite of his demonstrating that he has NO reading deficiency?
Retention does not mean that the child has failed. It does not mean that teachers or parents are not working hard enough. It does mean that the child needs more instructional time and help to catch up and meet grade 3 reading performance levels. The purpose of retention is to give children who have substantial reading deficiencies more time and the intensive instruction they need to catch up in reading.
(Name) has demonstrated that he does not have a reading deficiency and is a proficient reader who performs consistently at a level documented to be above average.
Please be advised that (Name) will not be coming into school to take an in-person assessment, merely for a test score that is not required, per the executive order.
Should the school persist in demanding an in-person assessment, I am prepared to withdraw him from school before the end of the school year and register him as a homeschool student, get his portfolio certified for promotion to the fourth grade by a certified teacher and re-enroll him into the fourth grade after summer.
Please advise further. I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
IMPORTANT Remember to CC all school board members, the principal AND your local education reporter. __________________
NOTES ON FOLLOWING UP Be aware that when you send your email, you may receive a reply email – OR a phone call. You may be told things that a district may not want documented. YOU NEED IT DOCUMENTED – such as “that your child will be retained if they don’t take the FSA.” It is important to document all communications with the school. Phone calls are fine. Just be prepared to take notes.
THEN – send an email stating what was discussed over the phone and ask for confirmation of your understanding: ___________________ This is to confirm our conversation on (date).
You stated: 1. 2. 3.
Please reply to confirm. Thank you for your kind assistance.
Sincerely,
___________________
If they won’t confirm it in writing, IT. DIDN’T. HAPPEN.
This organization is NOT “The Minimal Participation Network.”
We are The OPT OUT Florida Network. Proudly.
Since 2012, parents have turned to us in desperation, sharing their outrage and frustration about the campaign of intimidation they receive from schools when they voice any objection to the obsessive and inappropriate high stakes testing, which labels our capable children as failures, with devastating results. We empathize with parents AND teachers’ stories of incessant, weekly i-Ready minutes… or else…; bogus threats of retention that will not happen; unsubstantiated threats of remediation to their (YOUR) children – all based on test scores – FSA scores, to be specific. You are lied to, in order to secure your compliance and deliver up your child to a rigged test. You AND your children are bullied and harassed when you do opt out, even if you call it minimal participation. These are not appropriate behaviors for professional adults in a school environment.
Opting out says, “I do not consent.”
Anything else IS consent.
In our earlier days, when opting out was often met with hostile responses from schools, parents were hesitant to opt out and the term minimal participation was coined by a parent out of good intentions. It was a way to avoid pushback from the schools. But that comes from a place of fear, not empowerment, and it implies minimal effort.
Even though we continue to promote opting out in a way that does not affect the precious 95% participation, too many principals tell us, by their words and deeds, that they value school grades more than our kids.
Guess what, folks?
What minimal participation and 95% participation guarantees is that the Florida legislature will NEVER listen to you.
Think about it. Why should they?
Not until parents wake up and let it be known, en masse, that we reject their high stakes accountability, will the powers that be hear you.
Years ago, a teacher commented on the lengths parents go to just to make testing less painful for their children. He said to me,
Parents are constantly trying to figure out ways to make what schools do to their kids less traumatic. It’s as if they don’t realize they can shut down all the stupid testing with one, giant, focused protest.
“Minimal participation” is an example of that. It is parental tribute to the very adults who facilitate this broken system of test and punish accountability; a system, which makes children hate school and veteran teachers leave their profession.
It is a misnomer that has also led to the misperception, which implies:
that parents who opt out harm our schools. They do not.
that opting out is about “just this child.” It is not.
that parents, who opt out, thumb their noses at our schools and the people who work there. We. Do. Not.
There is a bigger picture, and we are all a part of it.
We know that standardized tests are a better measure of affluence than of true academic ability. When schools don’t “make the grade,” they are labeled as “failing schools” and are denied equitable funding and resources. Such schools are subject to being taken over by private, charter corporations; removing local control, and fracturing close-knit communities, in particular, predominantly black and brown communities. We OPT OUT of that.
The Opt Out Florida Network objects to high stakes testing in order to strongly support public school teachers, who are also harmed by high stakes accountability. Because of high stakes testing, experienced teachers are fast becoming an endangered species. We OPT OUT of that.
No school has ever been denied funding because students opted out. None. Nationally. Not even in the state of New York, where annually, 20% of all students… OPT OUT.
There are many public school teachers, former and current, in our ranks, who not only support the movement with their time, but also opt their own kids out of testing. The behavior of a few rogue teachers or principals is not reflective of our alliance with educators in support of public education. Bad behavior on the part of our schools diminishes public education and it must be called out. Don’t complain about it. Report it.
This week, a very informed parent notified her child’s school about opting out of the upcoming FSA.
Twice, the principal asked her if she wanted to opt out or “minimally participate.” Twice, she told the principal that she wanted to “opt out” of all FSA testing for the year…
Principal: “There really isn’t an “opt out” option. “Minimal participation” is better for the school because it shows that we attempted to give the student the test, so they do count in our numbers.”
The irony.
“Please let us know what you would like (Name) to do.”
She did. Twice. Was the mother not clear enough when she twice communicated,
“My child will opt out of all FSA tests this year”?
…or did the principal just dismiss her?
This principal is not informed enough to understand that minimal participation IS opting out, permitting one action and forbidding the other. The spelling and meaning are different, but the manipulation of parents and students to test at all cost is what is perpetuated by using the language of minimal participation.
Even though schools know that we have successfully opted out for nearly a decade now, they must continue the line, because heaven help us if they ever gave us permission to opt out and it ends the testing abuse.
Don’t be afraid to call it what it is. Your protection against institutional bullying comes not from appeasing them to keep the peace, but from being informed, so that you can use that knowledge from a position of strength and confidence. You have that information here. Continue reading →
According to the Florida Dept of Education (FLDOE), as of February 2021, 30% of all public school children are still being schooled remotely, including 2.3% in virtual schools.
Many parents have made the difficult decision to keep their children at home, learning remotely, since the beginning of the school year. Some of the reasons we’ve heard from parents seeking opt out information include a parent who has had a heart transplant; a student’s sibling, who has cancer and undergoes chemotherapy; a third grade student who has Type 1 Diabetes, to name a few. All are immuno-compromised and are at high risk of serious illness or fatality if they were to contract the virus.
“We’ve kept our 8-yr old daughter home all year long because I have a heart transplant. Her school now says I have to send her in to take the FSA or else she will be retained. Is this true?”
“If, as a parent, I opt to keep my kids out of the classroom because a sibling has cancer, can the school force me to have my kids attend for state testing?”
“My son has Type 1 Diabetes. How do I opt out of the FSA if we’ve been learning remotely from home?“
Some superintendents have provided guidance in response to overwhelming demands from parents for guidance.
Orange County’s Supt. Jenkins addressed the issue of remote learners not attending FSA at the 2/23/21 OCPS board meeting:
District Letters To Parents Orange County’s letter re-affirms what Dr. Jenkins said at the school board meeting – that “OCPS will not force any families to send kids in for face-to-face testing.”
Seminole County’s letter says they “will respect the decisions that parents will make on behalf of their students.”
From Miami-Dade County, quoting the Florida Commissioner of Education, Richard Corcoran, even as Corcoran maintains that all students must go into school to test in person: “…the decision to participate ultimately rests with the parents and/or guardian.”
NOTE: None of the districts say that your child will be exempted from the requirements of testing – for third grade promotion or for graduation requirements. Only the governor or the commissioner of education can do that.
A FEW FACTS
Florida statute mandates that all districts must administer the test and that all students must participate in the test, but it does not define “participation.
Tens of thousands of students have successfully opted out of the FSA since 2012 and have been promoted and appropriately placed, without incident, based on their report cards and teacher recommendations.
Nothing we post here is to be considered legal advice.
This post is about HOW to opt out, whether you are learning remotely from home or in person at school.
This post is not about how to get a Good Cause Exemption. ONLY third grade students require a Good Cause Exemption to be promoted. Information on approved Alternative Assessments for Good Cause Exemptions may be found in the Opt Out Guide and in the Third Grade Opt Out Toolbox.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Pushback from schools can be an issue when opting out of “mandatory” state tests, but NOT if you are informed, know what to expect and understand what your real options are.
ALL parents should expect a letter from school, saying, “There is no provision in state statutes for opting out of the FSA.” The letter does not mean that you can’t opt out, just that they have to tell you that you can’t. Please understand the difference.
Some principals and staff are compassionate and empathetic and will help you to get your child through this.
Others will push hard to try to get you to bring your child in to take the test, which, for some families, is not an option now. If the district is saying one thing and your principal is doing another, there is a disconnect that must be corrected. Email your superintendent. If you can’t get a satisfactory response, forward it to your local education reporter. I’m not kidding.
Squeak, wheels. Squeak. __________
So, how DO you opt out if your child isn’t going into school face-to-face?
DISTANCE/REMOTE STUDENTS AT HOME
DON’T send them to school to take the FSA... That’s pretty much it.
Once you’ve made the decision not to send your child into school for testing, if you wish to notify the school, as a courtesy, you can find a sample letter to adapt to your own needs here.
DO read the updated OPT OUT GUIDE to help you to understand opting out.
DO read the Pocket Opt Out Guide, with lots of useful information to share with friends and school.
DO use the tools in the Opt Out Toolbox and in the RESOURCES link.
If your child is in the third grade, use theThird Grade Opt Out Toolbox to secure a Good Cause Exemption for promotion to the fourth grade.
THEN, if you still have questions, please join us here to ask your questions.
__________
FACE-TO-FACE STUDENTS IN SCHOOL Students who are in school, in person, will opt out the same way that they have always opted out.
Sit for the test.
Don’t sign the Test Rules Acknowledgement.
Open the test. 3a) On computer test, student will login.
Push the test away. 4a) On computer, scroll through to the end of the test, without answering any questions and click submit.
When urged to complete your test, politely decline saying, “No, thank you. I’m done.”
Take a nap, read, draw, sit quietly or whatever you’re permitted to do when you’re finished testing. (Some students may be picked up from school by parents and returned to school after testing.)
Congratulations! You’ve now opted out.
THE OTHER OPT OUT
Some parents find “The Other Opt Out” easier on younger kids, especially when parents are not able to pick them up from school during testing. Kids opting out this way typically do not have to “sit and stare.”
Essentially, you keep your child out of school during the test and return them to school when class resumes. That could be a day of absence or going to school after the test has started. They cannot enter the classroom while testing is in session. The school is obligated to present a makeup test to your child until they either take it, or opt out. You will have to ask how this is done at your school, whether that’s in the classroom, or in a separate classroom with other kids who were either late or absent, like your child, or perhaps even in the office, with just a few other students.
Your child can then refuse just like in a regular opt out.
Push the test away.
When the proctor prompts student to take their test, they would politely refuse and close the booklet (or scroll through to the end, if on computer, and would then be finished.
They are usually sent back to class right after that.
Again, you would need to confirm with the school how they handle make up testing.
The Other Opt Out is also described in the Opt Out Pocket Guide, under Just The Facts.
Even young students understand the issues with testing and what it costs them. Given the choice, your child may surprise you and choose to opt out in person, in their classrooms, with their peers, where many consider it their own “silent protest.” There is value in students advocating for themselves in this way.
WHAT IF MY CHILD TESTED? CAN I DECIDE TO OPT OUT LATER?
GRADE 3 – No score is better than a failing score.
Grade 3 has 2 days of Reading assessments, each counts separately. (No writing)
THEREFORE, your options are either to opt out or take the test on both days. All in or all out.
You can always opt out of the FSA Math.
GRADES 4-10
BOTH Writing & Reading tests are needed for a valid ELA score in Gr 4-10.
THEREFORE, if a parent decides to opt out AFTER a student in Grade 4-10 has taken the Writing test, THEY CAN STILL OPT OUT of both days of Reading.
IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS FOR GRADES WITH HIGH STAKES GRADE 3
Third graders are required to have either a passing FSA reading score to be promoted to the fourth grade – OR a Good Cause Exemption. But only ONE is needed.
Parents of third graders opting out should work with their child’s teacher for a Good Cause Exemption.
Use the tools in the THIRD GRADE OPT OUT TOOLBOX, in particular the information on developing a real portfolio, as opposed to t test portfolio.
Talking About Opting Out With Young Children: If your younger student finds it difficult not to take a test that their teacher has asked them to take, you may find these conversations with children helpful in getting the conversation started: An 8-year Old Talks About Test Prep
Whether your third grader opts out in person, is merely absent, or fails the FSA, the punitive consequences are the same. The guidelines for ensuring your child meets the state requirements for promotion are the same – they need a Good Cause Exemption to be promoted.
Parents need to work with the school to ensure a Good Cause Exemption for promotion (since you are opting out), however, it is also in each school’s interest to facilitate promotion.
To fulfil graduation requirements, tenth graders need a passing FSA ELA score OR a concordant (passing) score on the ACT or the SAT. Only ONE is needed.
Students have until the end of their senior year to meet this requirement.
Different graduating classes have different cut scores, updated by the FLDOE last year and are outlined in the updated opt out guide. PLEASE READ THE GUIDE.
Parents must check the FLDOE website for updates to Florida graduation requirements, which are subject to change by the FLDOE at any time.
Remember that although the FSA is a graduation requirement for a high school diploma, it is NOT a requirement for ANY college admission considerations.
NO college requires the FSA. _____
All Other Grades While third and tenth grades carry risk for not having a passing FSA score, for ALL other grades, opting out is simply a matter of talking your child through why you are choosing to opt them out of testing.
Notifying the school If your child is learning remotely and you plan to keep them home, you can just keep them home. It’s up to you whether you notify school in advance or not.
Early notification:
Is a courtesy to the teacher, who must plan, especially during the pandemic.
Tells the teacher that you put more trust their ability to assess your child than you do in a single, high stakes standardized test. It puts you on the same side: Your child’s.
It frees the teacher to teach your child authentically, as if they were not testing, because they aren’t.
Releases your child from the stress and monotony of test prep so they can actually learn to love school.
Specific to this year, early notice to your school puts the state of Florida on notice that a significant number of students will not be counted. The greater the number of parents who commit to opting out, the more meaningless the test administration will be and the more likely it will be that Florida’s governor and Commissioner of Education will be forced to consider cancellation of the test.
Many of you have kept your children at home for various reasons throughout this school year. You have come to us now to figure out how to get your child promoted without an FSA score, perhaps not thinking of sitting out the FSA now as “opting out” in protest.
But, protest you will, no matter what anyone wants to call it; because to refuse to comply with the state’s mandate to test all children, in person, during a pandemic, IS a protest. And we support you.
We encourage you to keep learning more about why you should continue to opt out after this year.
“The “choice” of millions of parents to keep students at home during COVID-19 should mean something significant in the state of Florida. The FSA testing window opens in April and FL Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran is determined to disrespect parents who do not choose to return their child to school to take a test. For those parents, this is a seminal moment. The consequences of returning to school for the FSA could come at a far greater cost than all of Florida’s punitive accountability system combined.”