Does your child's school ask for parent proctors?

[DawnM]

This is so odd to me. I worked in PS for 16 years and we never asked parents to come proctor.

My son's charter is begging parents to come help proctor the tests.

I thought maybe it was just the charter, but my friend just sent me an email asking me to proctor a school my kids don't even go to, but is a local public school in the district. They are literally taking anyone who is willing.

 

[Malibustyle23]

Nope our school never has. Didn't realize it would be allowed. They usually pull instructional aids (Kindergarten, pre-k assistants, etc.) from other classes or specialists to proctor.

 

[Sleepingbeauty101]

Ours doesn't either, the teachers do it or the counselor proctors. I think the reason is that the possibility of the test being invalid is greater if they ask someone from the outside to do it. In Indiana so much of the test is linked to the teachers evaluation and whether or not they will get a stipend. Charter schools here do not have to follow the same rules that public schools do. And a lot of class time is used for test prep.

 

[aprilgail]

No way- the teachers proctor the exams or at the very least one of the aids in the schools- parents don't go anywhere near classrooms

 

[MSLRAC]

No, teachers, support staff, and administration have to proctor the tests. Parents are asked to come monitor the halls to make sure no one disturbs the classrooms that are testing, they also keep and eye on the classes while the teachers take the testing materials back to the office, and they take students to the bathroom if they can't hold it or to the office if they get sick. Non school employees aren't even supposed to touch the testing booklets or materials.

 

[Allons-y!]

Absolutely not. I would think this would violate FERPA in many different ways. Plus, depending on the type of testing, not having a certificated teacher or employee of the district could invalidate the test.

 

[DawnM]

Absolutely not. I would think this would violate FERPA in many different ways. Plus, depending on the type of testing, not having a certificated teacher or employee of the district could invalidate the test.

I think technically, you just need one person in the room to be certified. I am, but they don't know that.

 

[pumpkinmomma]

Absolutely not. I would think this would violate FERPA in many different ways. Plus, depending on the type of testing, not having a certificated teacher or employee of the district could invalidate the test.

No, not a violation of FERPA. You are not grading anything or looking at the student exams or scores.

I was a testing monitor for my kids' school. They have to have 2 adults per room to administer the tests. The teacher or other certified personnel proctors the exam, the monitor is there to just make sure nothing crazy happens and help pass out the test materials. I had to do training for it.

I didn't read the directions or anything like that. Just sat there for the most part. Our school doesn't have enough paras, support staff, etc available to cover all classrooms so they asked for parents to help.

My kids' school does paper exams in the classroom. They don't have to do computer exams at their elem. This is a public school, btw.

 

[DisneyOma]

No, not a violation of FERPA. You are not grading anything or looking at the student exams or scores.

I was a testing monitor for my kids' school. They have to have 2 adults per room to administer the tests. The teacher or other certified personnel proctors the exam, the monitor is there to just make sure nothing crazy happens and help pass out the test materials. I had to do training for it.

I didn't read the directions or anything like that. Just sat there for the most part. Our school doesn't have enough paras, support staff, etc available to cover all classrooms so they asked for parents to help.

My kids' school does paper exams in the classroom. They don't have to do computer exams at their elem. This is a public school, btw.

If there are any students in the classroom with accommodations, how would that be handled in your situation? A parent should not know the accommodations any student has, except for their own child's, of course.

 

[Aliceacc]

Absolutely not.

As teachers, we're required to sign up for 2 proctoring turns per year (SAT/ PSAT/ placement exam type stuff.) Everyone proctors trimester and final exams.

I think it puts the parents into an uncomfortable position-- what if their kids' best friend-- or worst enemy-- is caught cheating? And I do agree that it's a violation of FERPA-- school officials are the only ones who should know which kids are getting which accommodations.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Not here. I'm not even supposed to proctor MCAS as a sub, because the regular teachers have had a special training. They do use volunteers from the parents group as hall monitors, though.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

Ours asks for (begs for) volunteers during testing. I know most are in the halls, but I think some may proctor, too. I never volunteered for this myself since I would have to take a day off work and, frankly, it sounds really boring.

 

[Liberty Belle]

This is so odd to me. I worked in PS for 16 years and we never asked parents to come proctor.

My son's charter is begging parents to come help proctor the tests.

I thought maybe it was just the charter, but my friend just sent me an email asking me to proctor a school my kids don't even go to, but is a local public school in the district. They are literally taking anyone who is willing.

Only for Governor's cup (academic team) competitions.

 

[HM]

Yes, they asked in middle and high school during EOG testing. I work during school hours, so never helped in that capacity but would have if no one else could have been found.

 

[pumpkinmomma]

If there are any students in the classroom with accommodations, how would that be handled in your situation? A parent should not know the accommodations any student has, except for their own child's, of course.

Kids with accommodations are put into different classrooms according to those accommodations, and they use paras, certified subs or aides to monitor.

I was in a room with kids needing accommodations, but I am a certified sub for the district and I've subbed for these kids before.

To be clear, I did not administer the exam. I was simply a second set of eyes in the room and helped pass put materials like calculators, pencils, etc.

It's not an idea situation, but our state has cut funding so deeply that we don't have many options. There are very few teacher's aides, specials teachers are split between 2 schools, etc. Staffing is about as bare bones as it gets.

 

[Poohforyou]

No, our school never has either. The most they do is bring in highly utilized subs to proctor AP exams if they can't free up teachers or staff in the school to do it. Subject matter teachers cannot proctor their own AP exams.

 

[scrapquitler]

This is so odd to me. I worked in PS for 16 years and we never asked parents to come proctor.

My son's charter is begging parents to come help proctor the tests.

I thought maybe it was just the charter, but my friend just sent me an email asking me to proctor a school my kids don't even go to, but is a local public school in the district. They are literally taking anyone who is willing.

Isn't that the kind of thing the school's staff is supposed to do?

 

[DopeyDame]

Why do you need multiple adults in the room to proctor a test? (I'm asking seriously, not snarkily. My oldest is in first grade, so we haven't had "real" tests yet.)

 

[DawnM]

Why do you need multiple adults in the room to proctor a test? (I'm asking seriously, not snarkily. My oldest is in first grade, so we haven't had "real" tests yet.)

I know that when I was involved in testing as a teacher, we were the only ones in the classroom. Then when I was a school counselor, we monitored the halls, and covered teachers for bathroom breaks, etc....

So, I understand the question and I honestly don't know UNLESS it has to do with cheating and making sure there are 2 adults in every room to prove no cheating?

I have no idea otherwise. I haven't worked for 10 years.

 

[pumpkinmomma]

Why do you need multiple adults in the room to proctor a test? (I'm asking seriously, not snarkily. My oldest is in first grade, so we haven't had "real" tests yet.)

Because the state dept of Ed requires it.

I really don't know the rationale, I suspect it's to help prevent any cheating by the exam administrator. Accountability, I suppose.