Morristown, NJ
New Jersey May Have Broken Law On PARCC, Judge Says
An administrative law judge said this week that New Jersey education officials may have broken the law in deciding to use PARCC as the new high school exit exam.
The only question left, however, was how to remedy the situation as a group of students and parents continue to try to eliminate PARCC's role as a 2016 graduation requirement, though students may take other testing in order to get a high school diploma.
During a hearing on a lawsuit against PARCC on Monday, Judge Thomas Betancourt said that what education officials did was "inappropriate or improper,” though he questioned the idea of canceling an assessment test, saying he was "not happy" with the idea, according to people who witnessed the hearing.
The lawsuit is ongoing and an official ruling hasn't been made in the case. The state Department of Education acknowledged what was discussed at the hearing but declined to comment on the lawsuit specifically.
Betancourt was addressing legal question raised in a lawsuit filed by students and parents represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and the Education Law Center that seeks to eliminate PARCC and other testing as graduation requirements.
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The judge suggested the state violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires public notice, periods of public comment and a variety of steps when the Department of Education makes a change in assessment testing.
"Changing them without revising the statute is a violation of the law," said Stan Karp of the Education Law Center.
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The lawsuit also claims the state possibly violated due process laws when it did away with the High School Proficiency Assessment and adopted PARCC and other tests as graduation requirements. Concerns also have been raised about the potential impact of the proposed policies, especially on at-risk students.
The ACLU also claims the changes will close a pathway to graduation used by as many as 10,000 students annually who took an alternative test for English language learners.
The lawsuit seeks to halt using PARCC, SAT and other tests as graduation requirements until the state Department of Education formally proposes and adopts new regulations through the state assessment process.
The use of fee-based commercial tests, including the SAT and ACT, as high school graduation exams also raises questions about equal access and the alignment of these tests with state standards, the ACLU claims.
“This is a matter of basic fairness to students and families,” Linda Reid, the grandmother of a Paterson 10th grader, said in a recent statement provided by the ACLU. “Changes in high school graduation requirements require the adoption of new regulations by the State Board of Education, an opportunity for public comment about those regulations, and due notice for the parents and students who will be affected. None of that happened.”
The state Department of Education, meanwhile, beat back reports saying that as many as 10,000 people may not be able to graduate because of the PARCC requirement.
The DOE says that, based on unofficial and voluntary feedback from school districts, the number of portfolio appeals to avoid PARCC may be around 10,000.
Just because a district submits a portfolio appeals for a student, the DOE noted, doesn’t mean that the student can’t take advantage of the number of other test options for graduation.
Concerns have been raised about the potential impact of the proposed policies, especially on at-risk students, English language learners (ELL), students with disabilities, and students with other special needs, according to the ACLU.
For example, the elimination of the AHSA, the alternative assessment, will close a pathway to graduation used by as many as 10,000 students annually, including more than half of all ELL graduates, according to the ACLU.
The use of fee-based commercial tests, including the SAT and ACT, as high school graduation exams also raises questions about equal access and the alignment of these tests with state standards. In addition, expanded use of the “appeals” process could place a significant new burden on high school guidance departments, especially in high poverty districts, according to the ACLU.
Source : http://patch.com/new-jersey/morristown/find-out-why-parcc-may-not-matter-so-much-anymore-0
