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Sunday, March 27, 2011

Opting out of No Child Left Behind tests - KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana

Opting out of No Child Left Behind tests - KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana

Opting out of No Child Left Behind tests

STATE COLLEGE, PA (POOL/CNN) -

Some parents now opt their kids out of standardized tests, saying they aren't accurate measures of accomplishment and are used to punish schools.

Third graders in State College, Pennsylvania are pouring over their standardized exams and the text books they used to prepare for them are as big as some of the kids.

As students dug in, a fellow classmate happily constructed Lego's.

Neither he nor his big brother, working on an independent study, took the test after their parents said 'forget it.'

"I believe that they're hurting not just my children. But children across the country," their mother, Michele Gray, said.

She is opting them out of the two-week long standardized tests, required of every public school under the No Child Left Behind Act.

It's a controversial law aimed at making sure schools measure up.

The opt out parents said the tests have too much riding on them, forcing teachers to spend way too much time teaching the test.