I urge parents to make themselves aware of what's happening in local schools concerning the implementation of Common Core School Standards... By Michelle Furtado

Who willingly lets strangers take over control of their own child? It's happening right under our parental noses, and worse than that, we're watching them do it. You can even say that we're paying them to do it.

I'm speaking about the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. I urge parents to make themselves aware of what's happening in local schools concerning the implementation of Common Core School Standards or simply Common Core.

For example, tstudents in selected classrooms across the state, including Fairhaven, are scheduled to participate in a pilot test for the "MCAS replacement" called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, this spring. According to DESE, participation in the pilot test is mandatory, even though the score a student receives will mean nothing on the student's record, and not every school or student in the state is participating. But if your child happens to be "selected," for them it's mandatory.

I have tried to opt my "selected" daughter out of the test and I have received continued resistance from administrators. The pilot test counts for nothing on the student's record yet "selected" students are trapped in the bureaucratic web. They are property-of-the-state guinea pigs.

Rhoda Schneider, general council of the DESE, writes, "State law mandates that all students who are educated with Massachusetts public funds participate in the statewide student assessment program, and it includes no 'opt out' provision for parents to remove their children from participating."

According to an article onwww.masslive.com, Worcester School Committee members voted to allow parents to opt out for a number of reasons. Committee member Jack Foley explained one being that, "Because the state is not holding students accountable for the results, it is not a statewide assessment program." Two other committee members said that "parents should have the ability to decide whether their children should participate in the test."

I don't believe "no 'opt out' provision" is the same as "a 'no opt out' provision." And I'm shocked that the DESE is mandating a pilot test by reason of "all students who are educated with Massachusetts public funds." We're the public! Since we're providing the funds, we ought to be able to say "No." While I write, people with more knowledge and resources than me are trying to decipher exactly what's happening.

I fear that once our kids start taking standardized tests on computers that they will be gradually, unwittingly providing the state with more than just their academic aptitude. Once our kids are connected, their information can be used for unlimited and unimagined purposes.

It's a red flag when the state and local administrators will not allow parents to opt their child out of an electronic test,  one that's not even scored on a student's record.