Dive Brief:

• Massachusetts mother Rebecca Steinitz​ penned an open letter to President Obama, published by The Huffington Post, about the frustrating and "weird" time her 7th grade daughter had trying to take a practice PARCC test.  
• The letter argues that since Obama's children go to private school, the president is not fully privy to the inner-workings of high-stakes testing and how it affects most American families.  
• Steinitz, a high school literacy consultant, is sure to mention she is a Common Core advocate; however, she argues that the supposedly aligned test — which was designed by PARCC for 16 states — was complicated, hard, and unclear for her daughter and "thus would not provide an accurate picture of what seventh graders really can (and should) do." 

Dive Insight:

Open letters are becoming more common as parents attempt to find agency and a voice in the educational landscape of today.  

Probably most telling in Steinitz's letter are the actual examples she gives from the PARCC test.

This is an essay for a 7th grade student: 

You have learned about electricity by reading two articles, "Energy Story" and "Conducting Solutions," and viewing a video clip titled "Hands-On Science with Squishy Circuits." In an essay, compare the purpose of the three sources. Then analyze how each source uses explanations, demonstrations, or descriptions of experiments to help accomplish its purpose. Be sure to discuss important differences and similarities between the information gained from the video and the information provided in the articles. Support your response with evidence from each source.

And an essay for a 3rd grade student:

Old Mother West Wind and the Sandwitch both try to teach important lessons to characters in the stories. Write an essay that explains how Old Mother West Wind's and the Sandwitch's words and actions are important to the plots of the stories. Use what you learned about the characters to support your essay.

Both are unnecessarily complicated and abstract in their wording. While students should be encouraged to use evidence, analyze texts, and push higher order thinking, the rigorous part of the test should be the thinking and answering of the question, not trying to figure out what the question is asking you to do.