PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Fifteen organizations representing youth, parents, civil-rights activists and others have called on Governor Chafee to ask the state Board of Education to formally gather public input on the NECAP, the state's new testing graduation requirement.
"The clock is ticking and the future of literally thousands of Rhode Island teens
are hanging in the balance," said Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. "The new Board of Education has never had the opportunity to fully hear from the public, much less take a position on, the actions of its predecessor ... in approving high stakes testing."
The ACLU wants Chafee to speak with the board prior to Monday's meeting. At that meeting, the board is expected to discuss a lawsuit filed by the ACLU that calls for an official rule-making process where the public can provide testimony on the NECAP.
"Whatever the Governor's position on this controversial issue, we hope he agrees it is at
least worthy of a full examination," Brown wrote in his letter to Chafee. "That is why we are calling on him to urge the Board of Education to do the right thing -- the transparent thing -- and vote on Monday for an open, public process."
Linking the NECAP to high school graduation has been extremely controversial. More than a dozen groups have petitioned the Board of Education to allow for a public input process around the issue.
The organizations say that rather than educating students, the policy has led to too much time being spent teaching to the test.