Update:
It *is* the Gates Foundation study. They are paying the teachers and achools to participate in the study and dictating no placement changes. They are also videotaping the children. You can opt out of being videotaped, but I think that means your child misses class on the days they videotape. You can't opt out of the study (and the placement restrictions) because they are claiming that the children aren't in the study, only the teachers.
Is it me or is this nuts? And kind of scary?
I would raise a huge stink at any and all levels with anyone who will listen, both at the foundation and in the school district. This makes NO sense.
Thinking out loud, if the TEACHERS are the ones participating in the study, what difference would it make if a student changes placement??
Thinking out loud some more, wouldn't having a child placed at the wrong level lead to inaccurate results, if the results of this study involve student performance?
ETA: if changing placement would mess up their results, why not just exclude that data from the results? What would they do if a student was placed at too high a level?
I like Austin's suggestion below - perhaps your local paper has a columnist who deals with education. Though I'd probably go to the district superintendant first, then the school board, and simultaneously the foundation, and see where I got before I'd go outside of those two groups.
