Parcc Demonstration Outside New Bedford School Department Building-Brian’s Beat [Video]

It was a site to behold. Parents and former teachers taking to the streets, standing with placards outside the New Bedford School Department building. The peaceful demonstration designed to gather support for the swelling Opt-Out movement when it comes to statewide standardized tests, like MCAS and Parcc.

The group first starting Monday at the Winslow elementary school, changing gear and winding up on County Street around 9:15 in the morning. These people are on a mission. They have t-shirts denouncing Parcc and MCAS. The number of passersby honking their horns increases more, each day, than the intake by local Panhandlers, and most importantly, the number of children and parents consenting to opt their children out of these high stakes tests is measurably larger.

These protests also highlight who has the ultimate right and responsibility for educating students, the school-state or the parent. For most of us the answer is so obvious it slaps you in the face. Yet, time and again, unelected members of the state Board of Education, through selected Superintendents, impose more assessments, mandating good teachers teach to these tests thereby forcing schools to cut science fairs, arts programs, recess, along with field trips and history.

Are parents and the former teachers right on point? Absolutely. The fact remains numerous states have opted out of Parcc and Common Core. There must be good reason. Parents and teachers are fighting for freedom in education and they deserve our encouragement and assistance. Big government lingers in Washington and it's growing like a bad wart within school systems, like New Bedford.