Opposition Mobilizes Against PARCC : What's Happening in Montclair?

Last week, testing for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam began for students across New Jersey. Over 240,000 students in the state have already taken the test, according to one report.

But although state officials are claiming that the testing is going off without a hitch, there has been significant local push back against the controversial standardized test, as the “opt-out” movement continues to grow in Essex and Hudson counties.

Several local boards of education have created specific policies for student wishing to opt-out of the PARCC according to one report, including Newark, Montclair, Nutley, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge and South Orange-Maplewood.

In Livingston, where New Jersey Governor Chris Christie went to high school, nearly 1,130 out of 4,100 students refused to take the test, according to a NJ.com report. The Livingston Board of Education went so far as to issue a formal resolution condemning the PARCC on its website.

Newark school officials didn’t have a total for the district’s opt-outs, according to one report, but cited a middle school in the district of 700 children, in which only seven students refused to take the exam.

In the Caldwell-West Caldwell district, about 220 students out of 2,650 reportedly refused to take the test.

One news report stated that 207 students out of 3,368 had opted out in Millburn.

In Bloomfield, the superintendent of schools stated in an email that about 125 students would not be taking the PARCC test, according to a report.

In Verona and Cedar Grove, more than 300 students opted out, according to a report.

Even school districts which haven’t announced official opt-out totals have signs of significant backlash against the PARCC. In Montclair, a district that also created an opt-out policy for the NJ ASK test according to a district spokesman, high school officials reported getting “five or ten opt-out notes daily” according to a February Wall Street Journal report.

In Nutley, one parent wrote on the Nutley PARCC Information and Resources Facebook page:

“We had my daughter opt out. We sat for two weeks debating what to do and came to a decision this morning. I don’t want my child judged on one test. And don’t want her teacher to be either. These kids work so hard. The homework, the tests, the ridiculous common core math. I just can’t see putting her through it. I believe we did what was right. But, we are still worried.”

Looking to see what the fuss is about? Try some sample PARCC questions here.

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