In 2014, we wrote Act 436: the state's acknowledgment of a parent's authority to access any material with which their child comes into contact while attending public school in Louisiana.
This law has been in effect since Aug. 1, 2014, and its intent was (and is) to ensure that parents can know when their children are being exposed to questionable content so that they can address such concerns with their locally elected school board members who are responsible for curriculum in their schools.
THE EFFECT OF THE LAW:
1. Schools must give parents access to all instructional materials.
2. Schools must allow parents to see ALL surveys and questionnaires PRIOR to distributing or administering them to their children.
3. School Boards must establish Parental Access Policy and provide a copy of this policy to parents during orientation.
SCHOOL BOARD POLICY: Every public School Board should have their written policy in place and available to the public regarding parental access to instructional materials. 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: Every school is required to provide an orientation during which the school's policy regarding parental access to instructional materials should be explained and a copy of the policy given to parents.
WHAT PARENTS CAN SEE: Parents can see anything with which their child comes into contact while at 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, interests, activities, behaviors. 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 instrument that is not used to assess academic knowledge, skills, or abilities whether asked on paper, computer, or by 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.
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 view 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. This can include taking pictures of your child’s work done online or via a software program.
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 anything to which their child comes into contact 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.