ACLU Files Open Records Requests with All RI School Districts for PARCC Clarity

CRANSTON, RI—The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of education advocacy groups have filed open records requests with every school district in the state “to obtain information about any plans they have to use the [PARCC] test for grading or graduation purposes before 2021.”

The ACLU, in a news release on Wednesday, said that the requests were filed to help clear up confusion and end the mixed-messaging coming from some school district officials who allegedly have told parents that the tests would be a graduation requirement even though state Commissioner of Education Ken Wagner ”does not believe schools should use PARCC as a high stakes test determining a student’s graduation eligibility until 2021.”

Debbie Flitman, a Cranston parent and member of Parents Acrosss RI’s advisory committee, said ““RIDE officials are misleading parents and students about the use of the PARCC assessments as a graduation requirement.”

Flitman said that she recently attended a meeting where officials from the Rhode Island Department of Education told attendees that PARCC testing is not a graduation requirement for classes between 2016 and 2020.

“Based on this information, I was under the impression that this was a statewide directive,” she said. “Confusion set in when I attended a Class of 2020 Orientation at Cranston High School West, where students and parents were told PARCC testing is a graduation requirement. When I pushed officials further, I learned that RIDE regulations allow school districts to use PARCC testing as a graduation requirement if they so choose. Why isn’t RIDE being upfront with this information at their meetings?”

Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU, said that “It is unfortunate that RIDE is giving school districts open-ended authority to use PARCC results so soon without any need to demonstrate that they have provided necessary support services to the students who will be adversely affected. This is very poor public policy and an abdication of responsibility on RIDE’s part. It is particularly unfortunate that we, rather than RIDE, must find out exactly what is going on across the state.”

School districts have 10 business days to respond to the open records requests under the Access to Public Records Law.

The ACLU said it filed the requests on behalf of RITELL, Young Voices, Providence Student Union, RI Disability Law Center, Coalition to Defend Public Education, Parents Across RI, Youth Pride, Inc., and Tides Family Services.