More California parents exercise right to skip standardized tests
State launches its newest student testing program
Parents Can Opt Out - United Opt Out National
California launched its newest student testing program Tuesday.
Superintendent of Instruction Tom Torlakson made the announcement at Sutter Middle School in Sacramento, flanked by several local educators.
Students in grades 3-8 and high school juniors will take the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP, exam.
The new-generation computer-based tests will replace the old fill-the-bubble-with-a-No.-2-pencil tests.
The results will not affect grade promotion, Torlakson said.
"Think of it as an academic check-up, designed to give teachers the feedback they need to improve instruction," Torlakson said.
But opponents of the Common Core curriculum on which the CAASPP is based, have organized a national "opt-out" movement. They encourage parents to take a stand against the use of standardized testing as a barometer for performance by not having children participate.
Critics argue standardized testing puts too much pressure on students and teachers and has become the primary focus in the classroom.
Since 1996, California has had a law that allows parents to decline standardized testing for children for any reason.
The numbers show very few parents have exercised this right. However, the recent negative attention toward Common Core may change that.
According to the California Department of Education, fewer than 7,400 parents declined the STAR test (the previous test) in 2013. That's out of the 4.7 million students who took it. Officials said they did not have opt-out numbers for 2014, when the CAASPP was administered on a trial basis.
Twenty-eight students in the Sacramento City Unified School District refused the exam in 2013, district spokesman Gabe Ross said.
Twenty-eight students in the Sacramento City Unified School District refused the exam in 2013, district spokesman Gabe Ross said.
The number jumped to 94 during the first year of field testing on the CAASPP.
Ross attributed the increase to the technology change, saying some students at schools that preferred the paper and pencil method chose not to take part.
In the San Juan Unified School District, 97 students opted out in 2013. That number jumped to 238 last year. Spokeswoman Kim Minugh said administrators determined the increase was due to the 2014 test being a "trial run" with scores that wouldn't count.
Parent Katherine O'neal-Duran is so against standardized testing, it's one of the reasons she now home-schools her son, Christopher.
O'neal-Duran said she now works to share what she's learned about Common Core with others. The goal, she said, is to help give parents back some control over their child's education.
"We don't like the direction that you're going and we want you to listen to us," O'neal-Duran said.
She believes many parents don't know they can opt out.
Schools don't advertise that fact -- in part because federal law requires a minimum participation rate of 95 percent to validate a test.
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