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HOUMA, La. (AP) — The Terrebonne Parish School Board on Tuesday will consider a statement that it wants its schools removed from Common Core testing.
The Courier (http://bit.ly/1A9YLSj) reports that the resolution asks Gov. Bobby Jindal and state Education Superintendent John White to remove Terrebonne Parish from Common Core testing until "these programs have been thoroughly reviewed and understood by teachers, parents, community leaders, and approved by school board members."
If approved, the resolution, sponsored by freshman board member Vicki Bonvillain, would be symbolic. Either the Legislature or the state education board would need to intervene to stop the testing.
"Our obligation as a school district is to follow the law. Whether you like Common Core or don't like it, it's the law. As long as our kids are going to be required to take any test, I'm 100 percent with them. Resolutions are just that, they're resolutions. They don't have the weight of the law," Terrebonne school Superintendent Philip Martin said Friday.
Bonvillain's proposal comes amid statewide debate on the Common Core tests.
In January, Jindal — a Common Core supporter turned critic — issued an executive order urging the state education board to allow alternate tests for students whose parents want them to "opt out" of Common Core standardized testing. The board hasn't agreed so far.
The governor's request came after several parents across the state announced they wouldn't let their children participate.
However, state education officials are warning parents against following suit. Students who don't take the tests will receive zeros for their schools and district, education department officials said. Scores of children who don't take the test would be included in school and teacher performance evaluations.
Students in third through eighth grades will be given the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, tests in mid-March. The extent of student refusals to take the tests remains unclear.
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Information from: The Courier, http://www.houmatoday.com
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Information from: The Courier, http://www.houmatoday.com
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