Good evening. My name is Melissa Marini Švigelj-Smith.
Thank you, once again, for this opportunity to speak.
This evening I stand before you as a parent advocate. As evidenced by the easy passage of the last school levy, this community and its parents support Cleveland schools, and that respect and support deserves consistent reciprocity. I don’t believe that I need to rehash recent media reports in order to justify bringing attention to this issue.
As I briefly share some reasons why families have refused to allow their children to participate in high stakes standardized tests, I hope that you will consider adopting a policy that is respectful and supportive of families who express the desire to direct their children’s education, as protected by the 14th amendment.
This is why we refuse…
Because children should not have to attend a school labeled “failing,” or labeled anything at all
School buildings shelter children with vast amounts of untapped potential. Not failures.
FAILURE should never be the name of a monster hovering over a school building making children afraid of how they will do on a test
Children shouldn’t have to be afraid of how their teacher will be hurt by their performance on a test
Or how their school or community or city will be labeled because of how they do on a test
What sort of sane society that supposedly cherishes its children puts that sort of pressure on a child?
We refuse because without the data, they can’t label our children or anyone else’s children
We refuse
Because we know that standardized test scores have only been good at proving one thing: childrens’ life experiences and backgrounds far outweigh the impact that a school or teacher has on their test performance
We refuse
Because we don’t want our children’s privacy violated & we don’t want test companies profiting off of our children
Because we know that things like art, music, gym, and recess have been shown by research to increase academic success and shouldn’t be reduced or eliminated because kids need to take or prepare for more standardized tests
We refuse
Because we know that the emotional and social growth of children in school is not measured on a standardized test
Because the teacher who delivers groceries to a family in need, advocates for a student, or becomes a student’s confidant, counselor, or role model will never have that data show up in test results & we trust our children’s teachers to assess their progress
We refuse
Because struggling students should not be made to feel like less than the developing human beings that we ALL started out as because tests are used to label
We know that the long term consequences of labeling & retention are profound
NONE of our children are “limited,” “basic,” or “common”
Words that label can and do. Hurt and Divide.
We refuse
Because over 2000 education researchers, experts, and professionals signed a letter pleading with our President and Congress to stop relying on high stakes standardized testing to improve education – we have a decade of data proving that it doesn’t work
Because there are mountains of research that provide more effective and research proven methods to educate our children and to evaluate teachers and schools
We refuse
Because when we look at our children, we see their smiles, their talents, their goofiness, the crumbs around their mouths, the dirt on their skin, and the hope in their eyes
And when we look at our kids
We never see them as data or test scores
And neither should you
Thank you for your time and attention.
For additional information, please visit:
fairtest.org
parentsacrossamerica.org
teacher-advocate.com
Or take a look at recent articles and blog posts:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/valerie-strauss
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/
http://www.plunderbund.com/?s=ecot
http://www.plunderbund.com/2015/02/22/do-parcc-reading-passages-exceed-tested-grade-levels/
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/pearson-education-115026.html
msvigeljsmith.wordpress.com
Melissa Marini Švigelj 
see we don’t disagree on everything, good job
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Marie-Well said.I was at the Board mtg. and quite impressed by your words,particularly, your support of the teachers…for that is that we need, not hostility.
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