While some states have a complex process for opting out of the test or require very precise language, the state of Kentucky has made its position pretty clear. The AP earlier this month quoted the Kentucky Education Commissioner, Terry Holliday:
No student may opt out of the standardized assessments conducted under this system.
A report in the Lexington Herald-Leader makes the Kentucky position even clearer. Laura Arrasmith has been trying to round up some opt-out action in Kentucky-- she doesn't think her kids should have to take the states Big Standardized Test-- but the state has been pretty clear on its position. She had won some accommodations from her local administrators-- but then Holliday issued some pointed communications about testing to all superintendents.
Holliday has told superintendents that students who don't take the test will be counted and they will be given a score of 0. It gets even worse:
Todd Allen, an assistant general counsel for the state education
department, said in a statement that "the student also may be subject to
discipline under school or district policies including the code of
conduct or behavior."
Arrasmith has started a Facebook page for the movement, which sadly has under 300 likes as I'm typing this.
The United Opt Out page for Kentucky is likewise rather bleak. The state allows for a handful of exceptions due to extraordinary circumstances that would allow a child to skip the test. And when I say extraordinary, I mean that the circumstances include if the child has been placed in protective custody and the FBI won't reveal his location, if the child is the only caregiver for a terminally ill parent, or if the child dies during the testing window.
Allen did elaborate that Kentucky parents can opt out-- opt all the way out of public education. But if your child is enrolled in Kentucky public education, the state expects to do everything the state tells him to. It would be interesting to see how this plays out the next time a Kentuckian demands that his child be excused from hearing about evolution in school. In the meantime, Kentucky parents and teachers can definitely use some support from the rest of the country.
Arrasmith should demand to see the specific laws and school board policies against opting out, along with all minutes of meetings and legislative sessions when such laws/policies were passed. Frankly, I don't think such laws exist - Allen is BSing. But if they do exist, it would be interesting to see how they got passed.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThere is no opt out in NC either. You get a score of 1 if you refuse the test which sometimes impacts the student's grades and future placements and is also assigned to the teacher and school. http://www.mecklenburgacts.org/opting-out/potential-consequences-of-opting-out-of-state-exams/
ReplyDeleteEveryone should LIKE her FB page! I just liked it with both my FB profile!! Go Arrasmith!
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DeleteMy boys successfully sat out of testing this week!
DeleteI understand that parents of high school students might be concerned over opting-out their kids, but if a large number of younger students were kept out of the testing madness, the system would change. Organizing is key.
ReplyDeleteYes, Organizing is key, but I have not seen that. In my district, more parents and students than not express disdain for the high stakes standardized tests here (SBAC via computers), but there is no parental organized drive to pressure the Board to stop them nor to advertise the steps necessary for opting out. It always a lot of big talk and little action.
DeleteThere is no opt-out in Tennessee either. In high school the End of Course test (EOC)- a Pearson product- counts for 20% of the student's second semester grade. If the student misses the EOC, he/she has to make it up one day in the summer. Students aren't told the make-up day in much advance. If the family has plans- too bad. It's "take the test or else." The tests are used heavily in evaluating a teacher- 35%.
ReplyDeleteWe opted our three kids out of the CMAS (by Pearson). On the front cover of the CMAS instruction booklet, social studies was misspelled. It reads "social studes".
ReplyDeleteIf I were a parent in one of those states that give a zero for opting out or refusing, I would assert my parental constitutional right and withdraw them from school before the tests and re-enroll them afterwards. And I would publicize why I was forced to do this.
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