Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Murphy appeared on The Delaware Way with host Larry Mendte over the weekend. The subject was standardized testing. When Mendte asked Murphy point blank if parents were allowed to opt their children out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment, Murphy said “Absolutely not.”
I’m not sure what world Murphy is living in, but his own DOE has publicly stated there is nothing they can do about it. There is no law prohibiting or allowing it, so parents can, have and will opt their children out. I would strongly suggest Mark Murphy gets a reality check. The Smarter Balanced Assessment is a joke, and parents are realizing this more and more every day. I really hope House Bill 50 passes the House and Senate, and it puts Governor Markell in a position of either approving it and following the will of his constituents, or denying it and looking like a complete fool.
In the meantime, watch Murphy in all his grinning glory.
The Season Of Myths 
Murphy is a disgrace to Delaware…the sooner he is out of Delaware, the better for all of us…such a tool.
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Omg. Gag me. What a crock of sh*t. No- of course teachers aren’t teaching to the test! They don’t care if their students do well on this “academic checkup.” I mean it’s not like these tests are high stakes or anything. Jesus. What a lying, worthless jerk.
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Teachers teach the standards, which are tested by the test. So are teachers teaching to the test or not?
Who cares?! I almost felt sorry for ol’ Mark at this point. As I watched him repeat the “need for an academic check” and “the important data it will provide” lines, I saw his overly-serious expression and thought, he is trying not to laugh at his own statements!
What exactly is the data the Smarter Balanced Assessment going to provide that the schools don’t already know? The best part of this interview was when Larry Mendte forced Murphy to do a 180 in regards to his opposition of parents opting out of the test and that it was tied to receiving federal funds which require 95% of participation.
I guess Murphy will be like a wind-up toy that claps its hands and jumps up and down every time Markell forces him out in public to defend this absurd and costly testing.
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The best way to get rid of Mark Murphy, would be for large numbers of parents to opt out their kids… it would also get rid of the Smarter Balanced, it would get rid of Dave Sokola, it would get rid of Earl Jacques… This one little tidbit of parental rebellion, keeping your child away from the test, would benefit all Delaware’s schools for decades to come…….
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He was prepared well, It all seems to make perfect sense. What is missing here and Mr Murphy skillfully avoided, is that these CC standards were NOT developed by educators and are NOT bench marked against ANYTHING. Thus we have EXPERIMENTAL education for the entire country. Yes I am not happy to have my children as guinea pigs. Of course there is so much more wrong with this system. but this is the push back to his spin.
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OMG. I fell ill after watching the clip.
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