Dear DC School Community,
We have great news!
Today, Interim Superintendent Shana Young – head of the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) – sent a letter to DC local education agency (LEA) leaders, letting them know that OSSE will seek a PARCC waiver!
Below is an excerpt from the letter:
“We are writing to inform you that after careful consideration of this guidance, OSSE plans to seek a one-year waiver from federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirements around assessments, in order to suspend statewide summative assessments for students this spring, including Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) in English Language Arts and Math, Multi-State Alternate Assessments (MSAA), ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 and Alternate ACCESS.”
Your energy in getting the word out across every corner of DC was instrumental in quickly showing broad support to have our city seek a PARCC waiver this year.
Thank you to the Ward education councils, PTOs, school listserv moderators, volunteer-run education advocacy groups, and teacher organizations. And special thanks to all of the individual parents, grandparents, students, teachers, and school leaders who signed on, shared your perspective, disseminated to your communities, and even enlisted spouses (you know who you are).
We also want to recognize Councilmembers Allen, Lewis George, and Cheh for listening to school communities and introducing legislation today to require OSSE to seek the waiver.
Now this decision is in the hands of the US Department of Education. Here’s to hoping they will agree with us, our communities, and our local education leaders on what we know is in the best interest of students… cancel PARCC.
We’ll stay in touch – hope you will, too.
Best,
Sandra Moscoso, Suzanne Wells, Alexandra Simbana, Valerie Jablow, Dr. Betsy Wolf, and Grace Hu
Ward 6 Public School Parents Organization 