United Opt-Out: A
Vision for 2017
John Skelton
EDU505.90: The Future of Education
Professor J. Wojcik
UNITED OPT OUT
NATIONAL
The movement to end corporate
education reform
What is Opting Out?
Def: (verb)To opt out is to take any and all
actions to end corporate reform of public
education.
Actions include: Refusing to participate in
high stakes testing which is the life’s blood
of the destruction of public education.
Also see: refuse, reject, oppose and resist.
Webster’s Dictionary defines it as “to choose
not to participate in something.”
United Opt Out has created state by
state guides that offer parents, teachers,
and students the information necessary
to “choose not to participate in”
standardized, high stakes, and field-based
(or corporate sponsored) testing. We
believe that the quickest and most
effective way to END the harmful
practices being forced upon our children
and our teachers, and to disrupt the
corporate takeover of public education,
is to refuse the tests.
Source: United Opt Out National (n.d.). Declare Your Independence: Opt Out. Refuse Corp. Ed.
Reform. Retrieved July 4, 2013 from http://www.unitedoptout.com/
ONE- PAGE TALKING POINTS FLYER
Facts about punitive high stakes testing in public education:
• Is not scientifically-based and fails to follow the U.S. Government’s own data on learning
• Fosters test driven education that is not meeting the individual/intellectual needs of students
• Presents a racial and economic bias that is beneficial to white middle/upper class students and detrimental to
second language students, impoverished students, and students of color
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Is in opposition to the corrective action in gaps in opportunity and resources sanctioned by the Fiscal Fairness Act
Supports complicity of corporate interests rather than democracy based on public concerns
Fosters coercion over cooperation with regards to federal funding for public education
Promotes a culture of lying, cheating, and exploitation within the school community
Has used the achievement gap to foster a “de facto” segregation that has resulted in separate and unequal education
for minorities
Source: Smith, Ceresta (n.d.). One-Page Talking Points Flyer. Retrieved July 4, 2013 from http://www.unitedoptout.com/flyers/one-page-talking-points-flyer/
Scenario – looking into the future
• A narrative of probable outcomes, given certain
assumptions about current trends and likely
influences.
• A scenario speculates on how things might be.
“The future development of a trend, a strategy, or
a wild-card event may be described in story or
outline form. Typically, several scenarios will be
developed so that decision makers are aware that
future events may invalidate whatever scenario
they use for planning purposes.”
Source: World Future Sociey (n.d.). Retrieve on July 16, 2013, from
http://www.wfs.org/node/404.
Scanning – looking at current trends
• A survey of existing Political, Economic,
Socio-cultural, Technological,
Environmental, and Legal factors.
• Scanning takes note of how things have been
going.
“Typically, scanning is based on a systematic
survey of current newspapers, magazines, Web
sites, and other media for indications of
changes likely to have future importance.”
Source: World Future Society (n.d.). Retrieved on July 16,
2013 from http://www.wfs.org/node/400
Technology and High
Stakes Testing
There are three possible scenarios regarding
technology’s impact on high stakes testing:
1) It will have no impact. Technology in the school
will used as a slave of public policy rather than
drive it.
2) It will improve it. Technology will allow testing
to achieve its objectives more effectively.
3) It will destroy it. Technology available to
students will outpace the technology available to
schools.
“Imagine a roomful of students taking their
end-of-course English exams. One of those
hunched over his desk, unbeknownst to test
proctors, is outfitted with a slim mobile device.
Furtively, he presses a button and silently takes
an image of the test page, intending to share it
with other students. No, we're not talking about
the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in New
York City, where 70 students were caught up in a
June cheating scandal involving the use of
smartphones to share test questions.”
Source: Schaffhausen, D. (2012). As High-Stakes Online Testing Approaches, Will Your
iPads Work? Retrieved on August 3, 2013 from
http://thejournal.com/Articles/2012/10/11/You-May-Now-Open-Your-TestTablets.aspx?Page=1
Public Policy and High
Stakes Testing
Although it may be difficult to conceive of any
change to public policy regarding high-stakes
testing in the foreseeable future, technology is
becoming more individualized through the
prevalence of smart technology and social
networking. The victims of high-stakes testing
are typically the underprivileged and/or more
creative students. Technology, which is
becoming more and more available to these
individuals, empowers them in a way that may
make the corporate-based standards and
accountability movement irrelevant.
“We believe that QUALITY PUBLIC
EDUCATION is a democratic right for all
persons. It is through vibrant and fully funded
school communities that all children have the
opportunity to develop and grow into happy,
successful, free, and active citizens. High stakes
testing functions in opposition to QUALITY
PUBLIC EDUCATION, as it is used to punish
children, to malign educators, and to provide
financial gain for testing corporations and their
political sponsors.”
Source: United Opt-Out National (n.d.). Our Demands for Public
Education. Retrieved on August 3, 2013 from
http://unitedoptout.com/helpful-readings-and-resources/ourdemands-for-public-education/
Literature Overview
How the culture of testing has adversely affected instruction in other important areas of learning.
The Effects of High-Stakes Testing Policy on Arts Education (Baker, 2011)
Rational responses to high-stakes testing: the case of curriculum narrowing and the harm that follows (Berliner, 2011)
The results of the testing process on minority and/or low-income students. All three papers conclude that high
stakes testing has hurt rather than helped.
Four Effects of the High-Stakes Testing Movement on African American K-12 Students (Thompson & Allen, 2012)
The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on High Stakes Testing Reexamined (Baker & Johnston, 2010)
I Like to Read but I Know I’m Not Good At It’: Children’s Perspectives on High-Stakes Testing in a High-Poverty School
(Dutro & Selland, 2012)
The issue, viewed unfavorably from a teacher’s perspective.
Back to High School: A Teacher Educator’s Hands-On Encounter with the Pressures of High-Stakes Testing (Edwards &
Pula, 2011).
Five Ways to Prepare
• United Opt-Out must realize that the principle on which their success must be
based is individual liberty.
• United Opt-Out must be inclusive of all viewpoints.
• United Opt-Out needs to devise a comprehensive technology plan suited to their
purposes, including tools which may seem contradictory to their goals.
• United Opt-Out must conduct more research of its own.
• United Opt-Out must acknowledge that education and school are not the same
thing.
Call to Action
• Members of United Opt-Out should consider taking a course such as Future
of Education.
• Educators in public schools need to take the initiative and retool.
• UOO members should learn about futuring.
References
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Baker, M., & Johnston, P. (2010). The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on High Stakes Testing Reexamined. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 37
(3), 193-199.
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Baker, R.A. (2011). The Effects of High-Stakes Testing Policy on Arts Education. Arts Education Policy Review, 113 (1), 17-25.
•
Dutro, E., & Selland, M. (2012). ‘I Like to Read but I Know I’m Not Good At It’: Children’s Perspectives on High-Stakes Testing in a HighPoverty School. Curriculum Inquiry, 42 (3), 340-367.
•
Edwards, A.T., & Pula, J.J. (2011). Back to High School: A Teacher Educator’s Hands-On Encounter with the Pressures of High-Stakes
Testing. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 77 (4), 11-14.
•
Schaffhausen, D. (2012). As High-Stakes Online Testing Approaches, Will Your iPads Work? Retrieved on August 3, 2013 from
http://thejournal.com/Articles/2012/10/11/You-May-Now-Open-Your-Test-Tablets.aspx?Page=1
•
Smith, Ceresta (n.d.). One-Page Talking Points Flyer. Retrieved July 4, 2013 from http://www.unitedoptout.com/flyers/one-page-talking-pointsflyer/
•
Thompson, G., & Allen, T. (2012). Four Effects of the High-Stakes Testing Movement on African American K-12 Students. Journal of Negro
Education, 81 (3), 218-227.
•
United Opt-Out National (n.d.). Declare Your Independence: Opt Out. Refuse Corp. Ed. Reform. Retrieved July 4, 2013 from
http://www.unitedoptout.com/
•
United Opt-Out National (n.d.). Our Demands for Public Education. Retrieved on August 3, 2013 from http://unitedoptout.com/helpfulreadings-and-resources/our-demands-for-public-education/
•
World Future Sociey (n.d.). Retrieve on July 16, 2013, from http://www.wfs.org
Berliner, D. (2011). Rational responses to high-stakes testing: the case of curriculum narrowing and the harm that follows. Cambridge Journal of
Education, 41 (3), 287-302.