UTAH- Common Core has been the source of much concern for parents in Utah State. The Utah State Department of Education has gone to a lot of work and expense to ease the minds of concerned parents, citing results of a 15 parent review committee
“ The first parent review occurred November 4 8, 2013. Each parent signed a confidentiality agreement. The fifteen parents spent five days (40 hours) reviewing all of the test questions. The last day of the review, the parents participated in a panel discussion with State Board of Education members and legislators. All attendees at the panel discussion were also required to sign a confidentiality agreement. The panel did not discuss specific test questions, but discussed their general experience with the process and their feelings about the questions. Every member of the panel made positive comments about the process and the general content of the questions.”
When Molly Fisher, a committee member, read the part about the positive comments she felt she had to speak out and set the record straight. In an e-mail to the rest of the committee Molly had this to say, “The state is not going to get rid of a 38 million dollar exam anytime in the next few years. The parent committee is nothing but a political move they will continue to use to their advantage as long as ya’ll stay quiet and polite.
In addition to this she has sent e-mails to Judy Park at USOE expressing her concerns.
“Ms. Park,
I am very disturbed at what you said in a recent letter sent to districts across the state:
“There are also concerns that the test questions contain inappropriate content of a social or political nature. Every question on the SAGE assessment has been reviewed by the 15 member parent committee last fall. Every parent on the panel (including the parents that do not support the common core) agreed that there was nothing in the questions that was inappropriate.”
I am on your 15 member parent committee and you know we agreed there were questions that were inappropriate.
It is unfortunate that I have to tell people that the USOE is not a trustworthy entity. I did not intend my participation that week to be a blanket validation for your political purposes.”
Shortly after this another parent on the committee joined Molly Fisher in speaking out. In an open letter Christine Ruiz had this to say, “Now the important part …
WE DID NOT ‘approve’ the test. We were neither tasked to nor qualified to approve the test in any aspect.
It has been erroneously suggested that “…we all feel comfortable with the test” in an article by the Deseret News (Nov 2013). That’s a misleading quote from only one member of the committee. That statement was actually contradicted by another member later in the same article. But it’s no surprise here; we expect that from the media.
However, the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) perpetuated that myth when it plastered that same quote all over its SAGE informational brochures. We/ I expect more due diligence from USOE.
I never received a phone call to verify that I concurred and I suspect the same is true for the rest of the committee. It was either an act of deliberate deceit or jaw-dropping negligence to tell parents across the state that the Parent Review Committee gives its blanket approval of the test.”
USOE continues to tout the advantage of the $42 million SAGE testing program. However thanks to members of the committee speaking out, more parents across the state are choosing to opt their kids out of SAGE testing and reconsidering the implications of such a wide reaching test. Both of the letters from Molly Fisher and Christine Ruiz can be read in their entirety on www.Sentielnews.net
