Opt out of NY’s Common Core testing.

You do not have to have your child participate in Cuomo’s Common Core initiative. How many parents are aware that they have the right to opt out? Testing and curriculum should come at the local level. Common Core = Communist Core.

Letting the Federal Government control education has been is and will increasingly bring students down to a minimum level and inhibit achieving a maximum level of education. The other danger is it allows government to indoctrinate students in a way incompatible with families and/or our nations best interest but rather with the interests of those in power.

Heidi Indelecato plans to take son Benjamin to the library during this week’s Common Core testing sessions.Courtesy of Heidi Indelecato

While her son’s fourth-grade classmates were taking the nation’s first round of tests under the controversial Common Core program, Heidi Indelecato decided to teach her son a lesson in civil disobedience.

“We respectfully refuse to participate in the test,” said Indelecato, whose son Benjamin attends school in Lancaster, N.Y., which on Tuesday became the first state to administer testing under the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

So while other kids sat poised with their No. 2 pencils above Scantron sheets, Benjamin studied with his mother, who documented the occasion with a picture of the pair wearing T-shirts that read: “Keep calm and and refuse the NYS tests.”

“We respectfully refuse to participate in the test.”- Heidi Indelecato, mother of a fourth-grader

Common Core was adopted by 45 states, although Indiana withdrew last month. The set of standards, devised by the nation’s school superintendents at the behest of the National Governors Association, seeks to set a uniform standard for grades K-12, to ensure kids all over the nation reach the same minimum level of learning.

The program involves testing of students in grades 3-8 and high school testing is scheduled to begin next year.New York implemented the standards a year early.

Critics say the standards end up dictating curriculum, and thus taking power away from local districts and parents. They also claim that textbooks and lesson plans aligned with Common Core have become politicized. In addition to Indiana, measures have been introduced in several state legislatures to opt out or scale back participation.

Indelecato, a member of the parent group NYS Allies for Public Education, said she has been picking up her son at the beginning of the testing sessions and going to the library, where they review reading arts and math as well as lessons in the civil disobedience of such historical figures as Rosa Parks.

“I feel like I’m teaching him leadership and strong self-confidence, qualities that I feel are good for the development of a young child,” she said. “I’m trying to instill in him that sometimes it’s important to be polite but disobedient. Sometimes it’s needed because the leaders are not always going to be right.”

As students across New York state began taking the 90-minute tests, parents have been given the option of keeping children from participating. But in many districts the kids are not being allowed to use the time to read or do homework during the testing periods, which continue for the next six days. Read more…

Received in an email. Chris Gibson is our representative in Congress in NY’s 20th Congressional District. District20ny’s Blog

Bob — This week, students in classrooms across New York will be subject to high-stakes, burdensome over-testing. It is my belief that our students should spend more time learning and less time testing. Mary Jo and I are deeply involved in our children’s education – our three children attend the same public school I went to – and we are blessed that they have had phenomenal teachers. It’s unfair to require these teachers to teach to the test, instead of developing lessons specific to each classroom and community’s needs. That’s why I’ve authored a bill that reduces these burdensome, high-stakes, federal testing requirements. I believe local input is critical to developing curriculum that gives teachers flexibility and students the time to learn.  I am proud to receive an “A” rating from the National Education Association because our children’s education is one of my top priorities. Stand with me and sign my petition to oppose burdensome over-testing and unfunded federal mandates.  And you can read more about my views on education reform here. Thanks for all that you do, Chris

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