Picture

Weatherford Parents Opt Out is determined to return control of Texas public schools to the people who matter - the teachers, parents, and students that public schools are supposed to serve.

We are facing a crisis in Texas public education. Although well intentioned, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law which started in Texas and was adopted at the national level has failed American students. Unfortunately, NCLB (and later the Race to the Top initiative) was seen as a siren call to businesses and individuals who saw the possibility to make very, very large sums of money. 'Testing' companies like Pearson (whose contract with the State of Texas will net them over 462 million dollars over five years) McGraw Hill, and others, and charter school companies that take advantage of the chaos that's being created by the same testing and implementation of 'Value Added Models' (see "One Mom's Blog" page on this website for a definition of VAM) are the big players in this game. But the deal with Pearson in Texas isn't a clear-cut deal, and there have been problems reported with the STAAR test and questions we haven't gotten answers to. For information about the controversy, check out this report: http://kut.org/post/what-s-texas-500-million-testing-contract-pearson   So what are Texas taxpayers paying Pearson for?  'As it stands right now, Texas is paying Pearson $88,312,333 for the 2012-13 school year. That includes about $9 million for “Program Management,” $3 million in “Quality Assurance,” $15 million in “Test & Measurement Services,” and $9 million in “Other Direct Costs” ' according to the aforementioned article. We're already in the dark about the specifics of the deal - it's all been designed to slip under the radar, because Pearson and the TEA know that voters and taxpayers wouldn't stand for a deal done in secret with no accountability - if we knew of it's existence. If all this smells of conspiracy and dirty politics, there's a reason. You should know what's being done with your tax dollars, but more importantly - you should know what this is doing to our kids and teachers! 

I dare you to peel back the layers and find out what's really going on. You will not like it. I will continue to post information in my blog.

For more information, see the article in the Texas Tribune  –  State Auditor Finds Testing Contract Oversight Lacking
http://www.texastribune.org/2013/07/16/state-auditor-finds-testing-contract-oversight-lac/
or a corresponding article in the Dallas Morning News – 
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20130716-report-texas-lacked-oversight-of-contract-with-testing-firm-pearson.ece

General Information - websites and resources to consider

Please visit our Facebook page:   https://www.facebook.com/WeatherfordParentsOptOut
and the page that inspired me:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Texas-Parents-Opt-Out-of-State-Tests/121316371311714

Recommended Basic Reading:

For more information, here are some excellent sites:
Education Historian Diane Ravitch is a gem, please go to her website and blog   http://dianeravitch.net  VAM discussion   http://dianeravitch.net/2014/03/26/kevin-welner-why-legislators-adopt-vam-formulas-they-dont-understand/
Blogs and Opinions:
Legal Resources:

Articles: