EdAction
Maple River Education Coalition PAC
105 Peavey Rd, St 116 
Chaska, MN  55318 
952-361-4931
http://www.EdAction.org
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April 25, 2001

The Minnesota Student Survey

The Minnesota Student Survey is given to students, almost always without parent's knowledge or consent.  It intrudes into privacy.  It collects highly personal information of little use to real education, and is potentially dangerous in the hands of bureaucrats.  It focuses on matters of lifestyle, personal beliefs, sex, alcohol, drugs, crime, and violence - including that of family members.  It invites students to subtly tattle on parents, siblings, relatives and friends.  It infringes on parental authority, pushes parents aside, and is yet another step in governmental takeover of child-rearing.  It does not educate or benefit the child.  It wastes time that could elsewhere be put to better educational use. 

The student's name is not on the survey.  However, almost always the questions will reveal enough information to identify a specific student.  There might be only one "Mexican-American-female in the 7th grade class," for example. 

The test is currently administered with little or no local/parental control.  It is said to be given with a parental "opt-out" choice, so that parents may choose to opt their child "out" of the survey.  However, parents are typically not told about the survey beforehand, so the ability to opt-out is an illusion.  Our research has found that even most schoolboard members are unaware of the survey, and seem unable to stop it after they do become aware.  The decisions about the survey are made, in effect, by the DCFL. 

See the Minnesota Student Survey 2001

EdAction - 105 Peavey Rd, Ste 116, Chaska, MN  55318 
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