Counterengagement: Families Refusing the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and Questioning the Common Core

• In Event: 32.083 - Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: 32.083-18 - Parents' Voices in Response to Educational Policy and Practice

Abstract

In this paper, we use critical discourse analysis to understand why and how a group of New Jersey parents refused to let their children take the state required exam, the PARCC. Data was collected through interviews, focus groups, an online questionnaire, and copies of the refusal letters that had been sent to school principals. We specifically used the concepts of master and counter narratives to frame the data, demonstrating how the parents were challenging the school narratives of the PARCC exam, and how they constructed a new narrative to justify and unite the refusal movement.

Authors

• Stephanie Lynn Abraham, Rowan University

• Beth A. Wassell, Rowan University

• Kathryn Luet, Rowan University

• Nancy Vitalone-Raccaro, Drew University