About field testing...

The T&G has a good summary of who said what last night on PARCC field testing.

I should clarify one thing: our intent is to opt our one daughter who is scheduled for field testing out of that in the spring, as she doesn't need that on top of MCAS. While we every year give our kids the opportunity to opt out of state testing (and offer to take up that fight with the state), thus far they've always said they wanted to be part of it, largely (and isn't this interesting) to help out their schools. But we aren't doing PARCC field testing on top of that.

The argument that I didn't make last night is that I absolutely agree that field testing needs to be a part of any new testing system. But Pearson, the company that makes the PARCC, is a multi-BILLION dollar company. They do not need the voluntary labor of hundreds of our kids--a million across the country--plus untold teachers, IAs, principals, and administrators to try out their test.

They could pay for it, and they could do this all on somebody else's time.