Occupy the DOE (DC) Gains Civil Rights Supporters; Fights Education Reform, High Stakes Testing, & Charter School Expansion

Online, March 26, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Americans from across the nation will gather in Washington D.C. from March 30-April 2 for Occupy the Department of Education. Through Occupy DOE, participants will demand an end to the legislative reforms and mandates that threaten the quality and existence of the American public educational system. Supporters will also offer viable alternatives and solutions that enhance critical learning, focus on the student needs versus profitability, and which improve and strengthen public education.

Occupy the Department of Education (DC) is being sponsored by United Opt Out National, a grass roots organization of teachers, parents, students and community members dedicated to ending inappropriate and punitive high stakes testing in public education.

One area of particular concern of United Opt Out National (UOO) has been the hidden impact of education reform on minority, low income and special needs students.

In March, members of the United Opt Out National administration participated as panelists at the Selma Educational Summit, receiving standing ovations from civil rights groups for their presentations on the re-segregation of communities caused by the expansion of Charter schools, the closing of neighborhood schools due to the use of controversial high stakes, and the negative impact of education reform the long term achievement of minority students. Participants in the Summit included members from La Raza, Rainbow Push, National Action Network, and the NAACP. The Education Summit was held as part of the annual Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee in Selma, Alabama.

The group's rallying cry for the Occupy DOE will be "You Can't Fool Us!" playing off of the date of the Occupy DOE event.

As part of the April Fools Day theme, Occupy DOE will highlight the misrepresentations, flawed logic, and false promises of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. Through a series of marches, teach-ins, and meetings, Occupiers will focus on increasing awareness of the issues, ensuring public inclusion in all discussions, and presenting positive, research-supported options and solutions.

For more than a decade, the reform narrative in education has been dominated by three major concepts: test-based accountability, competition, and punishment. Ignoring the findings of a broad base of research studies, a handful of powerful corporate entities and foundations have declared that schools work best when treated as a business. Using their financial and political weight, they have spent the last decade propagating market-based principles like school choice, pay-for-performance, and for- profit management of schools.

A staggering amount of private wealth is focused each year on influencing legislators and other public officials to enact reform practices that place private profit and political ideology ahead of the needs of students. Key to these reforms is high stakes testing which focuses on competitive and punitive evaluation of teachers, schools, and students. Hidden in these reforms is their overriding purpose of increasing entrepreneurial opportunities and corporate profit through the dismantling of public education.

"Children are suffering at the hands of high stakes testing," states Peggy Robertson, one of the founders of United Opt Out National. "They have no voice in this battle - the 1% is determining their fate - which is that of test prep schools, narrow curriculum, no fine arts, and loss of recess, nap and developmentally appropriate play. A child's fate cannot be determined by one test score. To punish a child based on one test score in order to achieve privatization is a crime against humanity."

Robertson adds, "Minority children and children in low socio-economic areas -where fear of punitive school closings is the greatest - are suffering the most. These children are placed in lock-step regimented teach to the test day to day routines with no reprieve and no opportunity to think critically, conceptually or creatively."

Schedule Summary:

On Friday, March30, Occupy will take its message to Capitol Hill, with Opt Out representatives meeting with Senator Bernie Sander's senate staff to discuss the consequences of a test-driven curriculum and the negative impact it has on learning, teaching and public schools.

Saturday and Sunday focuses on Bringing the Public Back into Public Education through the sharing of stories, a series of teach-ins led by leading experts, and training sessions on drafting legislative bills.

Monday's events will focus on positive answers featuring two sessions: Solutions for Educators and Solutions for Communities, followed by a march to the White House to share examples of Real Learning, Real Assessment, and Real Teaching.

About United Opt Out National:

United Opt Out National is a grass roots organization consisting of parents, educators, students, community members and social activists who are dedicated to the elimination of high stakes testing in public education. Core to the organization is the belief that a quality public education is a basic human right for all children, one which must remain in the hands of our communities and out of the hands of big business, corporate reformers and politicians.

For more information, please visit http://unitedoptout.com or contact Peggy Robertson at 720-810-5593 or at [email protected].

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