South Carolina's Teacher Advisory Committee

Molly Spearman's Teacher Advisory Committee

Our new State Superintendent of Education, Molly Spearman, recently created an 18-member teacher advisory committee, but there is concern that the committee does not adequately represent South Carolina teachers.  As Congress rewrites NCLB legislation amid concerns about the harmful effects of test-based accountability and controversial teacher evaluation plans, it is crucial that our teachers be given a voice.

Most concerning are the five representatives from special interest groups StudentsFirst and Teach for America.  Both political groups have launched huge marketing campaigns, but neither one has advanced public education.  StudentsFirst supports test-based teacher evaluations and the segregation of our high risk schools into controversial Achievement School Districts.  These types of corporate "reform" tactics do not benefit public education, but only distract us from legitimate educational reform. 

Teach for America may have been a viable and reputable group if it had not been branded as the answer to our failing schools.  TFA recruits young college graduates and sends them into our high-risk schools with only two weeks of training.  TFA teachers do no better than traditional teachers, and they often leave the profession after their mandatory two-year stint in a high-risk school.

Let's take a look at Who's Who on the new committee:

StudentsFirstSC

1) Dana Laurens is the Outreach Director for StudentsFirstSC.
2) Amanda Hobson is a StudentsFirst fellow who serves in that capacity on the BRIDGE teacher evaluation steering committee in Charleston County School District (CCSD).

Teach for America

3) Josh Bell is the Executive Director of Teach for America-SC
4) Kirstin Bullington is a TFA Alumni member.
5) Edward Chambers is a TFA Alumni member.

 

Race to the Top-District program 

6) Erin Abner is a Personalized Learning Demonstration Teacher in CCSD.

7) Virginia Sayer is a Personalized Learning Coach in CCSD.

 

TAP school using VAM and Merit Pay 

8) Melonee Ginn has been a mentor teacher on the school leadership team for The System for Teacher and Student Advancement (TAP).  TAP schools use a controversial valued added model (VAM) for determining teacher effectiveness.

 

Palmetto State Teachers Association

9) Kathy Maness is the Executive Director of PSTA 

10) Jeff Venables is the President of PSTA 

11) Libby Ortmann is the Past President  of PSTA 

 

The SC Education Association 

12) Bernadette Hampton is the President of the SCEA 

13) Sherry East is the Vice President of the SCEA 

 

Others

14) Darleen Sutton is a reading coach in Clover County School District. 

15) Lipi Pratt is a teacher in York 4 School District. 

16) Jennifer Ainsworth is a special education teacher in Horry County School District. 

17) Kelley Payne is a former State Superintendent of Education candidate. 
18) Vivian Coleman is a teacher from Saluda County and a longtime friend/colleague of Molly Spearman.  http://indexjournal.com/news/New-education-superintendent-s-Saluda-roots-run-deep

Parent Advisory Committee

Coming soon, Molly Spearman will be choosing members for a Parent Advisory Committee.  Get your nominations in! 

   

   

Opt Out South Carolina 101

What is Opt Out?

Opt Out South Carolina is a support network for parents who have decided to refuse state standardized testing for their children in an effort to raise awareness about the negative impact that high stakes testing has on public education and to advocate for policy change. 

The tests we opted out of this year are the ACT Aspire and PASS tests, as well as the NCSC-Alt and SC-Alt for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

We oppose the use of state test scores to rate schools; evaluate teachers and principals; punish and close schools; and retain students.  South Carolina’s new statewide teacher evaluation model is tied to student test scores and will require additional testing to measure teacher effectiveness in every grade and class from 5K-12^th.

 

How Did Opt Out Start in South Carolina?

In 2011, several other South Carolina parents and I joined the national United Opt Out movement and began to raise awareness about high stakes testing through the formation of local Parents Across America advocacy groups.  As more parents became involved and wanted to find out how to refuse testing, Opt Out South Carolina was formed.

On a national and state level, the Opt Out movement more recently saw an increase in membership due to interest from parents who were concerned about the Common Core standards and the accompanying high stakes tests. 

This school year, Opt Out South Carolina also experienced significant growth as parents became aware of changes in the classroom.  Parents noticed a large amount of classroom time being spent on timed test prep; additional pressure on teachers and students; and a negative change in how their children felt about school. 

 

How Do You Opt Out?

When parents opt out, they send a letter to the principal stating their parental refusal for their children to participate in state testing.  On test days, these students attend school and work on assignments in a supervised area separate from the testing room.

Our Opt Out students do not receive a score on the tests, and no report is generated.  Since the tests are not used for grades, promotion, or retention, the “no score” does not affect a student’s academic record. 

The parent’s written refusal is attached to testing records for documentation, and the student’s nonparticipation is coded as a Parent Refusal in PowerSchool, pursuant to SC Department of Education (SCDE) guidelines.

 

Pushback?

This school year, after the SCDE issued two separate and conflicting directives to school districts concerning Opt Outs, some parents encountered difficulties with their school district honoring parental refusals.

The most extreme case was when Greenville County School District repeatedly attempted to administer tests to students who had written parental refusals on file and then issued disciplinary referrals when the students refused to take the tests.

 

Going Forward

The majority of our parental refusals were honored this year, and Opt Out South Carolina members plan to be involved in creating new local policy that will give all school districts clear and fair direction on how to respond to parental refusals of testing. 

Parents continue to receive misinformation from their local schools concerning how the test scores are used and how non-tested students are scored.  We are asking for transparency from our educational leaders, so that all SC families have the correct information about state testing.

Opt Out South Carolina is a diverse, nonpartisan group of parents, teachers, and other concerned citizens from all over the state who share a common interest in improving public education.  Our goal is to end high stakes testing so that all teachers may teach and all students may learn.

 

Sarah Johnson is the coordinator for Opt Out South Carolina and has been opting her own children out of state tests in Charleston County School District since 2011.  For more information about Opt Out South Carolina, send emails to CCShad@aol.com or visit Opt Out South Carolina on Facebook.

Opt Out News: South Carolina Suggests Jail Time for Parents, Disciplinary Action for Students

Why the pushback?

SC Department of Education COO, Betsy Carpentier
speaking at the SCASA meeting April 17, 2015

In the last few weeks, Opt Out South Carolina parents have been trying to figure out why they have received such extreme pushback from their schools when they refuse state testing for their children, and they now know why.  On Thursday, April 17, 2015, the SC Department of Education (SCDE) addressed approximately 80 people at an Instructional Leaders’ Roundtable Discussion hosted by the SC Association of School Administrators.  SCDE Chief Operating Officer Betsy Carpentier gave some pretty intense guidance to our school district leaders.  According to this account and this account of what was said, here are some highlights from the presentation on how school districts should respond to Opt Out parents:

-          If parents try to opt out of tests, school districts should not allow it.  Instead, they should just refer parents to this letter from SCDE Deputy Superintendent Nancy Busbee.  Hanging up on parents who call was also mentioned as a tactic.  (No need for an actual conversation.)

-          School districts should make sure these opt out kids are in the testing room, because then maybe they will give in and take the tests.  (You know, against the written refusal of the parent.)

-          If any of these kids act up or refuse the test, schools should deal with them as a behavior problem.  (“But my mother said…”)

-          In some “you didn’t hear this from me” remarks, if students miss test days, parents could spend an automatic 30 days in jail.  (yes, JAIL)  In fact, if a student misses just one test day, he can be reported for truancy.  This all goes back to the public school contract that parents sign.  (Uh…contract?)  In addition to that, if any of these “crazy parents” or groups suggest that a parent keep a child home on test days, they can be charged with aiding and abetting.  (Okay, now I’ve lost count of the number of threats.)

The audience was also reassured that the SCDE was handling and controlling the Opt Out problem.  The SCDE will get ahead of the parents by going to the media with their spin, making parental concerns "null and void."
 

And Just to be Clear...

On the day after this meeting, every public school in South Carolina received this memo from the SC DOE.  The language in the memo is tamer than what was said at the meeting, but it is easy to connect the dots and fill in the blanks.

We Want Answers

What was not said and what continues to be withheld by the SCDE is the answer to Opt Out parents’ question:  "Can you show me a state or federal law that requires my child to take these tests or denies me the right to refuse these tests?"

With one week until testing and no one knowing who will be tested, disciplined or jailed, I wrote our governor and state legislators this letter.  Stay tuned for updates.