A 2020 AESA Critics' Choice Book Award winner
The rise of high-stakes testing in New York and across the nation has
narrowed and simplified what is taught, while becoming central to the
effort to privatize public schools. However, it and similar reform
efforts have met resistance, with New York as the exemplar for how to
repel standardized testing and invasive data collection, such as
inBloom. In New York, the two parent/teacher organizations that have
been most effective are Long Island Opt Out and New York State Allies
for Public Education. Over the last four years, they and other groups
have focused on having parents refuse to submit their children to the
testing regime, arguing that if students don't take the tests, the
results aren't usable. The opt-out movement has been so successful that
20% of students statewide and 50% of students on Long Island refused to
take tests. In Opting Out, two parent leaders of the opt-out
movement--Jeanette Deutermann and Lisa Rudley--tell why and how they
became activists in the two organizations. The story of parents,
students, and teachers resisting not only high-stakes testing but also
privatization and other corporate reforms parallels the rise of teachers
across the country going on strike to demand increases in school funding
and teacher salaries. Both the success of the opt-out movement and
teacher strikes reflect the rise of grassroots organizing using social
media to influence policy makers at the local, state, and national
levels.
Perfect for courses such as:
The Politics Of Education Education Policy Education Reform
Community Organizing Education Evaluation Education Reform Parents And
Education
