Following the backlash from closing huge numbers of neighborhood schools and making it difficult for parents to opt-out of standardized testing, you’d think that the Chicago school district would have learned something about the importance parent engagement.

No such luck.

This week they “yanked-out” elementary students for interviews to see if their teachers influenced them to opt-out of a test that is being discontinued. Here’s an excerpt from an article in the Chicago Sun-Times:

“The truth is, her teacher did not opt my daughter out of the exam. I opted her out. If they wanted to question someone, they should talk to me.”

Other parents shared the sentiment and the outrage.

“It doesn’t sound right. It doesn’t sound fair. It sounds intimidating and scary for our kids,” said Sabrina Craig, the parent of a Drummond sixth-grader.

Several of the children told teachers after the interrogations that several questions were followed up by: “Are you sure? Are you lying?” according to Tricia Black, a teacher at Drummond who took part in the boycott of the test, which is being phased out next year and which many parents and teachers see as gratuitous.

As with their previous missteps, I suspect the result will be the kind of increased parent engagement the School District does not want — parents organizing against them.

You might also be interested in The Best Posts On Parents “Opting-Out” Of Standardized Tests For Their Children.