During a time when District of Columbia, students and teachers need supportive learning environments, consistent communication, meaningful investments, and strong leadership, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, (OSSE) plans not to request waivers as they did in 2020 and 2021, which mean a return to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) testing in April.

The return to PARCC testing after a two-year hiatus would be a terrible decision for many reasons. First, the test would not provide OSSE or teachers with the data needed to meet student needs. Second, there are over twenty States that originally joined the PARCC consortium in 2010, that have disbanded, the PARCC, meaning there are no States to compare District of Columbia PARCC test scores to. Third, standardize testing has never been a valid or reliable measure of what students know or are capable of doing. Testing now would be meaningless and even more unreliable with varied impacts and the absence of two years of testing.  

OSSE not seeking a waiver misses a huge opportunity to help students and teachers by developing locally authentic assessments that could be used by teachers and parents as a baseline for work this summer or next school year.

Last year OSSE requested a waiver after a group of parents and educators advocated for students and teachers. My point is not too much has changed for students since last year, so returning to business as usual, opposed to focusing on outdoor and remedial instruction to help students get back on track will only rob students of time that could have been spent on academic enrichment, civics, environmental literacy, social emotional development, or technical education.

The decision to test will only siphon resources that could be used to further help students and teachers recover from the most disruptive, challenging, and stressful last two school years any of us have ever experienced. There's no question that many students and teachers are still recovering from the learning lost due to disruptions caused by school closures, quarantines, citywide violence, family illness, economic deprivation, digital inequalities, social disorder, and mental health challenges.

This is not a new issue, even former President Obama has acknowledged the negative impacts of standardized testing and President Joe Biden, even made a campaign promised to end standardized testing in public schools during his run for President in 2019.

The misuse and manipulation of test scores to blame and shame teachers and schools must end. No community can survive when test results are used to close schools, assess teachers, or grade schools, narrowly, and unfairly.

Please support this petition and the many parents in agreement because the future of a generation is at stake. We can no longer sit-back and observe students not learning or prepared for life or the dismantling of public education. 

All students can learn, most students strive very hard to learn, and their learning, mental health, motivation, civic engagement, community building, environmental stewardship, and quality of life, should matter much much more than a standardized test.