Parent Action/Education Advocacy

MIDDLE SCHOOL PARENTS: The state tests are just a few weeks away, which means it's time to decide whether you will have your child take them or refuse. Like all schools in New York State, ICE is required to administer the tests. However, unlike most other schools, our school does not include any test prep in the curriculum and encourages parents to be informed about testing issues. (Here's what families can face elsewhere.) We will not tell you "the tests are shorter" (something you may have heard if you have children at other elementary or middle schools) without also saying, "but still, on average, 45 questions longer than they were just a few years ago." We will not say the tests "inform instruction" because teachers here do not use the results. At all. 
 
Next week, grade reps from the ICE Parent Action/Education Advocacy Committee will be initiating email discussions on this topic and emailing opt out letters for those of you who want them. In the meantime, check out this refutation of the state's claims of "new and improved" tests. These are the claims that Carmen Fariña parrots in her recently released letter to NYC parents. As any student of 7th grade humanities at ICE knows, propaganda is believable because it contains some kernel of truth. Beware the rest.