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What does this video have to do with Arizona? This teacher is talking about the same kind of High Stakes Tests that are given to children here in Arizona as young as 8 years old.  AzMERIT is forced upon students, beginning in the third grade, and every year through high school.  In Arizona, it’s AzMERIT; in Utah, it’s SAGE;  in Florida it’s the FSA. All of these states, including Ohio and others, have paid $Millions to American Institutes for Research, one of the world’s largest behavioral and social science research and evaluation organizations to create these tests. 

As a parent, have you stood up for your child and opted out of AzMERIT?  Have you stood firm in the face of opposition from teachers, principals, school administrators, and the State?  If not, learn more by clicking HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.  

Wait!  Didn’t you say SB1455 had been hijacked?  Then you said it was back on the right track?  Now you say it’s been resurrected?  Yes, Yes, and Yes.  

After being placed on the "right track," it failed in the Senate on March 7 by a vote of 18 Nays; 11 Ayes; 1 Not Voting.  Shortly after, Sen. Carlyle Begay brought it up again.  (Only senators who voted Nay can do that, which is why Sen. Begay voted Nay.)

So, it can be Reconsidered.  The problem is this:  Is there anybody who can turn some of those Nays into Ayes?  

YES!  YOU!  See below for the names and contact information of Senators who voted Nay, followed by some Truths that YOU must convey to them, in order to convince them to change their vote.

Click HERE for the Excel File of Senators who Voted Nay. (Sen. Miranda did not vote.) Please contact them via Phone, Facebook, Email, In Person, and Twitter.  If you cannot open the file, please send me an email at anitalchristy@cox.net, and I will send it to you.

The Truth About Why You Should Support SB1455.  (These are prioritized based on the most common objections voiced by senators, and are not necessarily in order of your or my priority.)

1.  Standardized tests, including AzMERIT, are not the only assessments given to students throughout the year.  In fact, Standardized tests are unreliable in assessing a student’s educational progress.  AzMERIT has never been validated or proven to be an indicator of a student’s progress.  AzMERIT doesn’t tell us anything about third-grade promotion.  AzMERIT is given in the Spring, but the results aren’t available until November, which is three months after the next school year begins! Teachers have no input into Standardized Tests.  Teachers aren’t allowed to see the tests. Teachers don’t see their students’ tests, even after they’ve been graded by third parties.  Parents don’t see the graded tests.  Students don’t see the graded tests.  Nobody has any idea what answers were right, and which were wrong!  

Better methods of evaluating student needs and progress already exist. Careful observations and documentation of student work and behaviors by trained teachers is more helpful than a one-time test. Assessment based on student performance on real learning tasks is more useful for measuring achievement and provides more information for teaching than multiple-choice achievement tests. Parents working with teachers, term grades, homework performance–these and other indicators are far better than AzMERIT.  See How Standardized Testing Damages Education.    

SB 1455 will be voted on by Arizona Senators on Monday, March 7, during the "Third Read" at 1:30 pm.  This bill, sponsored by Sen. Sylvia Allen, gives parents the legal authority to opt their children out of the statewide assessment adopted by the State Board of Education, including AzMERIT, with no penalty to the child, school, or school district.  

Please call your and other Senators’ offices beginning now and leave a voicemail message.  Follow up again Monday morning.  Ask them to please vote YES to SB 1455 during the Third Read on Monday.  See list of senators, with phone numbers and email addresses, by clicking on this article titled Opt Out Bill Hearing Today (UPDATE).

Last session, a similar bill failed by ONE VOTE.  This session, all senators are under extreme pressure by special interests that stand to gain money, power, school rankings, human cogs in the corporate machine, and private student data by keeping both Common Core and standardized testing in place.  It’s an election year for these senators.  Click HERE for the live proceedings and watch how they vote!    

During last Thursday’s COW (Committee of the Whole), Senator Allen supported SB1455 by citing  ARS 1-601, which declares the "fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing, education, health care and mental health of their children is a fundamental right."  She also cited ESSA provisions that allow states and parents to opt students out of standardized testing.   

Statewide assessments are among the most controversial and least effective methods of assessing a child’s educational progress. If parents across the country are opting their children out of statewide assessments, there’s a good reason.

For those who are interested in knowing more about  why parents despise AzMERIT and standardized testing, keep reading.  

By Vicki Alger, Ph.D.
Author of a forthcoming book on the history of the U.S. Department of Education 

Arizona parents are one step closer to having their assessment opt-out rights affirmed, thanks to Senate Education Committee Chairman Senator Sylvia Allen’s sponsorship of the amended SB 1455.

But affirming parents’ opt-out rights could be sidelined because some senators think it’s unnecessary. "Just keep children home ‘sick’ during the test day. What’s the big deal?”

Testing today isn’t what it used to be some years ago.  We’d show up at school, spend a couple of hours filling in bubbles, and go home. The biggest worry back then was making sure we brought enough number two pencils with us.

These days, parents and students are lucky if they’re even informed about the testing dates far enough in advance to stay home "sick," since assessment periods can span as much as 6 weeks. So there’s no practical way for parents to simply opt-out in absentia.

But here’s the really big deal based on what parents and children endured last spring when a similar opt-out protection bill failed in the Senate by one vote.

Many parents were told that if they kept their children home, their children wouldn’t be allowed back into their classes until they took the assessment.