Refuse the Tests: Change the Stakes Releases Video

Amazing - Lisa Donlan, parent, CEC 1

Join the hundreds of NYC parents -- let's make it thousands -- who are refusing to let their children take the NYS tests, which begin April 1st! Watch our powerful new video where parents explain why they're opting out! Visit the Change the Stakes website to view the video and access information that tells you how to opt your child out of the tests. If you have questions, email us at changethestakes@gmail.com. http://changethestakes.wordpress.com/ 

We don't have $4 million for ads, but we have great people. The UFT should take this and run it as an ad for one even one day. 

Kudos to the wonderful crew at Change the Stakes and  who organized this little gem with filmmaker Michael Elliot. What a cooperative effort - draft after draft with the crew offering comments and the clip getting better and better. We don't need no stink'n hedge fund scum.

Number of NYC Parents Refusing State Tests Expected to Triple in 2014

What began two years ago as a small pocket of resistance has burgeoned into a full-blown protest movement: public school parents are demanding an end to the excessive use of standardized tests and top-down, corporate-backed reforms.  Change the Stakes estimates that three times as many NYC school children as last year – perhaps exceeding 1,000 – will refuse to take the annual English Language Arts (ELA) and math exams that begin next week. FULL STORY HERE

12 Reasons to Opt Out (pdf)

How to Opt-Out

Sample Opt-Out Letters

English: .html | .doc
Spanish: .html | .doc

Will My School Lose Funding?

See NYSAPE: The 95% Participation Rate and How Schools Do NOT Lose Funding

From the NYC Department of Education

For the official take, see the NYCDOE’s Student Participation in Grades 3-8 New York State Tests Parent Guide (pdf)