Welcome to The Home Page of the Coalition for Better Education
"Created to dignify the autonomy of our children and of their teachers".
"The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps--we must step up the stairs. "
Vance Havne
We would like to encourage you to read through our site and make a decision to join us. We hope you will not remain silent but will let your local school board and representatives know how you feel about NCLB and CSAP. If you are parents, we would like to encourage you to opt your child out of testing. It is legal and can be done (see below). This act may be the best way to inform education officials of your stance on the endless testing of our students.
Use the navigation bars to the left and above to navigate our site. If you wish to join our list serve, email dperl@myexcel.com
A brave colleague has decided to refuse to test his students in Washington. Here is his letter to all of us: (somewhat edited for brevity):
Dear Test Resistors,
First, thank you so much for all the emails coming from all over the US. When I get a little jumpy I just remember every one of you is by my side...
I thought the meeting with SPS legal this afternoon was going to be judgment day for me. No such luck. I now know there is a process they have to go through. Today was simply repeating all the allegations and getting me to say, "Yes, that is true." I had a hard time believing that I wasn't going to learn anything new! I told them it was rather stressful to be continually told that I could be terminated, but not have anything really happen. They told me they would "express" my case.
One not so good thing was that SEA brought up the topic of my teaching certificate, and asked the district to ask the state to not revoke it. I have to say, this was the first time I felt like something truly painful might happen to me other than not seeing my students again. Advice was given to me later that there was a very real possibility it would be revoked because what I have done is termed "gross insubordination." I said, "You mean super duper gross insubordination?" "Yes," was the reply.
They asked me what I wanted to have happen. I said that I wanted to be back with my students teaching as soon as possible. Everyone was taking serious notes.
I asked to be put on leave until their decision so I could ease my stress with a few walks. SEA asked for paid administrative leave. It was denied. Turns out, if I had committed a crime of some sort and they were investigating I would be paid, but because I chose to do something legal I would not be paid. Go figure...
When I was walking up the stairs to the meeting I passed a sign. It was a quote from Jaime Escalante, "The greatest thing you have is your self image, a positive opinion of yourself. You must never let anyone take it from you." When the lawyer asked if I had anything to add to the record I pulled out the laminated green sign. "I found this right here in the stairwell and I want it in the record." Then I read the quote out loud.
Yours, Carl Chew
CSAP: Leaving Our Children Behind
Dear Parents:
CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Program) testing is upon us…my 8-year-old’s class alone is scheduled for 16.5 hours of timed testing. After months of researching this exam and its negative implications, I have come to the conclusion that such extended testing is not only cruel, but also a waste of my tax dollars, a poor use of time that could be spent learning, and an activity that returns inconsequential results for my child, Canyon Creek and our district. My child will be opting out of CSAP testing because as a parent, that is my choice.
Read the rest of Kelley Coffman-Lee's research on CSAP
Please click on the opt out letters below if you wish to exempt your child from CSAP.
Click on the Susan Ohanian hyperlink for two sample opt out letters that she has created. Ohanian sample Opt Out Letters
We have also provided downloadable Opt Out Letters below.
The Opt Out Letter is a form that can be downloaded as a PDF (in English/en Espanol) or as a print friendly form (in English/en Espańol) (opens a new window).
The Opt Out Letter is summarized as follows:
Please be advised that my child, ___________________________________, will not be participating in CSAP testing during the current school year. I understand that the law provides the parent or guardian the right of choice regarding this standardized testing. In my opinion, such testing is not in the best interests of our children since it promotes competition instead of cooperation, and blunts, not stimulates, our children's curiosity. I understand, too, that the school will provide appropriate learning activities during testing times. I request that no record of CSAP testing be part of my child's permanent file.
Please join us in signing a petition calling for the end to NCLB. You can reach this petition at the following website.http://www.educatorroundtable.org/
Want to know how it's going in other states? Paste the link below into your browser to read information from our sister organization in California.
Read an interview of Don Perl, founder of the Colorado Coalition for Better Education by Yvonne Siu-Runyan.
"Teacher, Advocate, & Activist for Better Education"
Don Perl has also written a letter to a parent who is considering opting her child out of the CSAP testing. He outlines all the ways that a parent is within his/her legal rights to do this in the following letter.
Click here for letter concerning legal rights
Many other groups are concerned about our children. Click here for a PDF file on the Children's Action Agenda presented courtesy of Every Child Matters and Angela Engel.
Concerns of the National Council of Churches Committee on Public Education and Literacy
Reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act July 27, 2007
Our serious and ongoing concerns about the No Child Left Behind Act cause us to ask you not to rush through a quick fix but instead to take the time to reauthorize NCLB with care, by discerning and implementing major structural reforms.
A primary concern is that the law operates by holding schools and school districts responsible for outcomes measured by standardized tests without equalizing inputs-all the resources that help children learn. When the very small amount of funding in the federal law is laid as a very thin veneer upon a very thick block of state and local funding that has not been successfully equalized for many, many years, the big city school districts with enormous needs and responsibilities find they are sanctioned for being less successful than rich suburban districts. We are therefore concerned that what was proposed as a civil rights law has, in reality, undermined the capacity of demographically complex urban school districts serving the mass of our nation's poorest children. NCLB has punished city school districts with sanctions that have re-directed Title I funding away from educational programming to pay for transportation and supplemental services. NCLB's requirements have been tragically under-funded, increasing demands on city districts with diminishing
tax bases. Read rest of National Council of Churches' comments
Lynn Stoddard has written an open letter to the Governors of all 50 states. Please click on his letter below. Click here for Stoddard's Letter
From Dr. Philip Kovacs of the Educator Roundtable:
Last week the Aspen Institute issued a report suggesting that what the country needs is more of the same: tougher standards, harsher penalties, more private ownership of public schools. No major publication questioned whether or not tougher standards have been scientifically proven to raise test scores.
They haven’t.Read more of Kovac's article
William Spady of Changeleaders on The Pitfalls of NCLB
Ken Goodman on It's time to Resist NCLB
Legal Issues
It would seem some administrators think that it is not legal to opt out. We would like to direct your attention to Title 22 Article 1, 5 (a) Section 123 of the Colorado Revised Statutes and Article IX (9), Sections 15 & 16 of the State Constitution. Or check the material for yourself by clicking the hyperlink or copying and pasting this in your browser.
Article IX (9) Section 15 says the following:
Article IX, Section 15. School districts - board of education.
The general assembly shall, by law, provide for organization of school
districts of convenient size, in each of which shall be established
a board of education, to consist of three or more directors to be elected
by the qualified electors of the district. Said directors shall have
control of instruction in the public schools of their respective districts.
In Cary v. Bd. of Education., 598 F.2d 235 (10th Cir. 1979), The court
states, "It is legitimate for the curriculum of the school district
to reflect the value system and educational emphasis which are the collective
will of those whose children are being educated and who are paying the
costs."
Read some comments from District 6 school teachers:
• I was excited about the changes discussed last fall and the supportive, respectful words of our superintendent. By the spring however, it was clear that words were not going to be followed by actions. Now I have no faith at all in this administration. There are so many problems and they’re getting worse. Mostly I am frustrated that they will not listen to teachers. I don’t know how the district will improve this way.
All of the comments below were transcribed by Ava Jensen. In the interest of preserving the authenticity of the comments, she left misspellings and typos, but did add information within brackets to aid clarity and also omitted sensitive facts such as the names of teachers and schools.
She stresses that the typos, misspellings, and abbreviated sentence
structure should be forgiven due to the fact that the comments were
hastily typed out by teachers during their already woefully insufficient
planning times.
read Elementary teachers' comments
read Middle School teachers' comments
read High school teachers' comments
Want to post comments about our web or education in general? visit our blogspot: http://thecbe.blogspot.com/
Take our Interactive quiz
Interested in how the fight is going in other states? Check http://www.fcarweb.org/ for information on the anti-test movement in Florida.
A Reminder For Parents...
Your Child's Ethnicity Is Private!
Parents should also be aware that they do not need to choose a racial or ethnic designation for their children when registering them for school. This is also optional.
Estimados padres:
Queremos que ustedes sepan que tienen el derecho de dejar en blanco la parte de los documentos escolares que pide información sobre su raza o etnicidad. Si ustedes no quieren proporcionar esta información, no tienen que hacerla. La ley les protege. Esta información es completamente optativa.
Click the hyperlinks below for information:
Exposing the Myths of High Stakes Testing by A. Engel