ARKANSAS PARCC TEST REFUSAL GET TOUGH GUIDE When the Department of Education tries to bully you, know your rights. ____________________________________________________________________________ Bully Tactic #1: There is no opt-out provision. Response: I am not asking permission to opt out. I am refusing the test. Please enter Code #14 on my child's answer sheet for REFUSED TEST as outlined in the AACTAP Testing Administration manual. Bully Tactic #2: The law says that 95% students must take the test. Response: The law states that the school shall administer the test. The law does not require that students take the test. Bully Tactic #3: If your child does not take the test, they will not receive a letter grade or they could be held back. Response: Please show me where this is stated in Arkansas Law. According to ACTAAP 7.03.3 and 7.03.8.2 the State cannot withhold a letter grade or graduation. Bully Tactic #4: The state of Arkansas does not recognize that form because it is from Michigan. That form carries no legal weight here. Response: The law does not say that I must use a specific form to refuse the PARCC test. Further, I am not required to give you a form of any kind. This form is merely for our mutual convenience and documentation. I can provide you with a hand-written note if you prefer. Bully Tactic #5: Your school will be punished. Response: How so? Can you please show me the written documentation that outlines how my school is punished because I refused a test? I have yet to find any evidence of schools being punished for lack of testing. Schools have been punished for low test scores and right now the PARCC is averaging a 50-70% failure rate in other states. Bully Tactic #6: Your child may be placed on an AIP (Academic Improvement Plan). Response: I understand that. If my child's grades are suffering, then I expect the district to everything in their power to educate my child instead of test them. The goal here is to demonstrate proficiency, and as a parent I have the legal right to request the use of a portfolio or alternative assessment to demonstrate my child’s ability. Bully Tactic #7: Your child will have to stay home on testing days. Response: Keeping my child home will result in truancy violations so I will be sending my child to school. I am a taxpayer and you do not have the authority to bar my child from accessing the public good to which I contribute in the form of tax payment. It is my child’s right as a public school student to receive instruction daily. Please let me know within 7 business days how my child will received instructional time on testing days instead. If you need help refusing the test, please contact Arkansas Against Common Core at:[email protected] See below for Supreme Court Rulings that may prove helpful as well. The Parent Holds The Right To Direct The Child's Education, Not The State In Pierce v. The Society of Sisters (1925), the Court said that “the child is not the mere creature of the State: those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right coupled with the high duty to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.” In Meyer v. Nebraska (1923), the Supreme Court criticized the state for interfering “with the power of the parents to control the education of their own.” In Prince v. Massachusetts (1944), the Supreme Court concluded, “It is cardinal with us that the custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the parents, whose primary function and freedom include preparation for the obligations the State can neither supply nor hinder.” The Washington v. Glucksburg case (1997) establishes that, “In a long line of cases, we have held that, in addition to the specific freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights, the ‘liberty’ specially protected by the Due Process Clause includes the rights. . .to direct the education and upbringing of one's children.” If you need help refusing the test, please contact Arkansas Against Common Core at:[email protected]