During the 2014 legislative session, The People, LLC drafted a bill which caused the legislature to acknowledge the authority of parents to have access to any material with which their child comes into contact while attending public school in Louisiana. This bill passed unanimously and was subsequently signed into law as Act 436.
The provisions of Act 436 became effective by August 1, 2014, just in time for the new school year. Parents should become familiar with this law so that they can make full use of the provisions that will enable them to see all instructional materials their children are being exposed to in school. This will ensure that parents can address any concerns regarding questionable content with the teachers, principal, and School Board.
What the Law Does:
1. Requires school to give parents access to all instructional materials.
2. Requires schools to allow parents to see ALL surveys and questionnaires that are not assessments of academic knowledge, PRIOR to them being given to their children.
3. Requires the School Boards to establish parental access policy and give a copy of its policy to parents during orientation.
School Board Policy: Every School Board should have their policy in place at this time, in writing, and available to the public. Check with your child's principal to see if this is the case in your district. If it is not, contact your School Board member and inform them that, by law, the policy is supposed to be in place. Follow-up at the School Board meeting during the public comment period and encourage your School Board member to stay on top of this issue.
Orientation: The legislature had previously required that parents attend orientation each school year. Because the state has no authority to require such a thing, we removed that section and replaced it with a requirement that schools provide an orientation during which the school's policy regarding parental access to instructional materials will be explained and a copy of the policy given to parents who choose to attend the orientation.
What Parents Can See: Parents can see anything that their child comes into contact with in the school except for the high-stakes (secure) tests/assessments. As stated in the law, parents can see: "content that conveys the knowledge or skills of a subject in the school curriculum through a medium or a combination of media for conveying information to a student. It also includes any non-secure test, non-secure assessment, or survey administered to a student. The term also includes books, supplementary materials, teaching aids, computer software, magnetic media, DVD, CD-ROM, computer courseware, online material, information, or services, or an electronic medium or other means of conveying information to the student or otherwise contributing to the learning process."
Surveys: Parents must be allowed to see ALL surveys and questionnaires that are presented to their children BEFORE their children are exposed to them. Surveys ask your child for details about themselves, their family, their interests, their activities, their lives. Surveys also ask children for their opinions/attitudes/beliefs about various things; or, questions about what they value--what things are important to them. Surveys include any instruments that are not used to assess academic knowledge, skills, or abilities whether asked on paper, computer, or any other means.
Surveys are included in every assessment your child will take. So, even though parents are not allowed to see the academic part of high-stakes assessments, they can view the survey portion prior to their child seeing it. This will include LEAP, iLEAP, various forms of ACT, NAEP, PISA, TIMMS, PARCC and others. Expect push-back on this, but hold your ground--you have the law on your side.
Send a letter or email to your child's teachers and principal with a copy to your superintendent and school board member informing them that you want them to make certain that no survey/questionnaire/inventory (including those included in "secure/high-stakes" assessments) is to be administered in any format to your child without you seeing it first. Let them know that you will decide whether or not your child will take any survey after you look at it..
Copies: The school does not have to, but it can offer to copy material for you. The school can also charge a fee to cover the cost of any copy that it makes. The School Board's written policy should include a statement regarding whether or not the school will make copies.
Parents can now make copies of their child's instructional materials themselves by taking a picture with their phones or other mobile device or by using a portable printer or any other device that gets the job done.
According to ACT 436, no law or rule can be created that will prevent a parent from being able to make copies on school premises of what their child comes into contact with at school. School Board policy should be in place to make this as easy a process as possible and should reflect that such materials are to be made available to parents when they request them.
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While we were largely successful in this effort, we were unable to prevent the state from blocking parental access to non-survey portions (the part that actually tests academics) of "secured" (high-stakes) assessments. The Louisiana Dept. of Education refused to allow it and had enough votes on the House Ed. Committee to kill the bill. We were forced to let that part of the bill go so that the rest of it could become law.
"Secured" or "high-stakes" assessments are used to decide whether or not a child, teacher, school, or district "fails." These assessments continue to remain unseen by parents, teachers, administrators, legislators, BESE Board, and our governor due to our state's School Choice Accountability System.
The provisions of Act 436 became effective by August 1, 2014, just in time for the new school year. Parents should become familiar with this law so that they can make full use of the provisions that will enable them to see all instructional materials their children are being exposed to in school. This will ensure that parents can address any concerns regarding questionable content with the teachers, principal, and School Board.
What the Law Does:
1. Requires school to give parents access to all instructional materials.
2. Requires schools to allow parents to see ALL surveys and questionnaires that are not assessments of academic knowledge, PRIOR to them being given to their children.
3. Requires the School Boards to establish parental access policy and give a copy of its policy to parents during orientation.
School Board Policy: Every School Board should have their policy in place at this time, in writing, and available to the public. Check with your child's principal to see if this is the case in your district. If it is not, contact your School Board member and inform them that, by law, the policy is supposed to be in place. Follow-up at the School Board meeting during the public comment period and encourage your School Board member to stay on top of this issue.
Orientation: The legislature had previously required that parents attend orientation each school year. Because the state has no authority to require such a thing, we removed that section and replaced it with a requirement that schools provide an orientation during which the school's policy regarding parental access to instructional materials will be explained and a copy of the policy given to parents who choose to attend the orientation.
What Parents Can See: Parents can see anything that their child comes into contact with in the school except for the high-stakes (secure) tests/assessments. As stated in the law, parents can see: "content that conveys the knowledge or skills of a subject in the school curriculum through a medium or a combination of media for conveying information to a student. It also includes any non-secure test, non-secure assessment, or survey administered to a student. The term also includes books, supplementary materials, teaching aids, computer software, magnetic media, DVD, CD-ROM, computer courseware, online material, information, or services, or an electronic medium or other means of conveying information to the student or otherwise contributing to the learning process."
Surveys: Parents must be allowed to see ALL surveys and questionnaires that are presented to their children BEFORE their children are exposed to them. Surveys ask your child for details about themselves, their family, their interests, their activities, their lives. Surveys also ask children for their opinions/attitudes/beliefs about various things; or, questions about what they value--what things are important to them. Surveys include any instruments that are not used to assess academic knowledge, skills, or abilities whether asked on paper, computer, or any other means.
Surveys are included in every assessment your child will take. So, even though parents are not allowed to see the academic part of high-stakes assessments, they can view the survey portion prior to their child seeing it. This will include LEAP, iLEAP, various forms of ACT, NAEP, PISA, TIMMS, PARCC and others. Expect push-back on this, but hold your ground--you have the law on your side.
Send a letter or email to your child's teachers and principal with a copy to your superintendent and school board member informing them that you want them to make certain that no survey/questionnaire/inventory (including those included in "secure/high-stakes" assessments) is to be administered in any format to your child without you seeing it first. Let them know that you will decide whether or not your child will take any survey after you look at it..
Copies: The school does not have to, but it can offer to copy material for you. The school can also charge a fee to cover the cost of any copy that it makes. The School Board's written policy should include a statement regarding whether or not the school will make copies.
Parents can now make copies of their child's instructional materials themselves by taking a picture with their phones or other mobile device or by using a portable printer or any other device that gets the job done.
According to ACT 436, no law or rule can be created that will prevent a parent from being able to make copies on school premises of what their child comes into contact with at school. School Board policy should be in place to make this as easy a process as possible and should reflect that such materials are to be made available to parents when they request them.
________________________________________________________________
While we were largely successful in this effort, we were unable to prevent the state from blocking parental access to non-survey portions (the part that actually tests academics) of "secured" (high-stakes) assessments. The Louisiana Dept. of Education refused to allow it and had enough votes on the House Ed. Committee to kill the bill. We were forced to let that part of the bill go so that the rest of it could become law.
"Secured" or "high-stakes" assessments are used to decide whether or not a child, teacher, school, or district "fails." These assessments continue to remain unseen by parents, teachers, administrators, legislators, BESE Board, and our governor due to our state's School Choice Accountability System.