Counter engagement: parents refusing high stakes testing and questioning policy in the era of the common core

Abstract

This study is a critical discourse analysis of the New Jersey Opt-Out Movement. In 2015, and in response to the increasing standardization of US public school instruction, and over-use of high-stakes testing, NJ parents began to refuse to allow their children to take a key end-of-the year exam, the PARCC. We employ the concepts of master and counter narratives to exam the qualitative data that was collected in an online-questionnaire, a focus group, and refusal letters. We argue that these parents have refused this exam for their children based on differing reasons, that parents effectively changed the master narrative of the PARCC to grow their movement, and their refusal letters were key in promoting a new counter narrative.