On November 7th, the Chicago Teachers Union launched a new campaign “Let Us Teach” asking for the elimination of standardized testing in pre-school through 2nd grades and urging parents to opt their children out of excessive testing. Video of the press conference is available here.

Even many kindergartners in CPS will undergo standardized testing more than 17 times this year.  Preschool families are receiving letters home with teachers saying: “We are working hard to finish CPS Mandated Assessments.”  The majority of parents do not know which tests their children are being given and do not know when, how many, or for what purposes. They are never told that their children are spending hours on tests like the REACH performance tasks that are only being administered as a way to evaluate their child’s teachers.  REACH tests are even administered in classes like art, music, and physical education.

CTU had several recommendations for parents about testing:

• Opt-out of standardized testing.
• Demand that the Chicago Public Schools immediately stop the clearly harmful and pointless standardized testing of children in Pre-school and Kindergarten through 2nd grade.
• Call or email CPS officials to protest standardized testing:
  • CPS Chief Accountability Officer, John Barker: jrbarker@cps.edu; phone: 773-553-4444
  • Director of Assessment, Didi Swartz: cmswartz@cps.edu; phone: 773-553-1161

More Than A Score’s own instructions and universal opt out letter are available on our Opt Out Resources page. Please contact us with any questions about the process of opting out. We are also happy to send a member of More Than A Score to come speak with your parent group or LSC about how parents can protect their children from high-stakes testing. Email info@morethanascorechicago.org.