City "screeners" panel: Educator Perspectives & Parents' Rights
Beginning in fall 2021, NYC dramatically increased the standardized testing burden on its public school students. Brooklyn’s Community Education Council 15 collaborated with NYC Opt Out for a special (remote) session to examine, and push back on, this phenomenon.
The recording here documents that session, which provided the public a rare opportunity to hear directly from educators who have seen the Acadience/MAP/iReady/DESSA tests in practice. The panel also included parent advocates knowledgeable about privacy protections, parent rights, and more.
7:19 Grounding questions & context (Jody Drezner Alperin, representing NYC Opt Out)
19:36 Acadience academic “screener” (Jessica, elementary math teacher)
30:13 MAP academic “screener” (Evelyn, high school math teacher)
41:37 iReady academic “screener” (Kemala Karmen, of NYC Opt Out, reading a statement submitted by an elementary special education teacher, who wished to remain anonymous. A culture of fear and intimidation exists in NYC DOE; several educators approached for this panel feared for their jobs if they openly expressed their honest opinions about aspects of the city testing mandate.)
46:43 DESSA social-emotional learning “screener” (Sara Kotzin, social worker)
1:00:37 “Screener” data & privacy implications (Leonie Haimson, parent advocate)
1:11:29 Pushing back, test refusal, parents’ rights (Johanna Garcia, NYC Opt Out)
1:20:12 Closing/Call to action (Jody Drezner Alperin)
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Share this survey about “screeners” with all the NYC DOE educators you know. It will allow us to collect real information on how much time these tests take, what they are being used for, if they have any utility, etc.
Send this letter to city council members and the incoming Adams administration, calling for an immediate halt to excessive testing and a stop to the sharing of student data beyond staff at the child’s school.
