Oregon Save Our Schools: Opting Out: My Story in Taking the Plunge!

Oregon Save Our Schools: Opting Out: My Story in Taking the Plunge!:

Opting Out: My Story in Taking the Plunge!

As someone who has fought the battle against corporate education reform for the past four years, one would think I would have been the first parent in line to opt my children out of high-stakes testing.  Surprisingly, it took me a while to realize how important it was to have my children opt out of OAKS and SBAC testing.

Opting out of state testing wasn't something I decided lightly.  A lot of issues, thoughts, and questions ran through my mind as a parent:  Would my child feel isolated and alone?  Would my child miss out on education opportunities such as Advanced Math if they didn't test?  Would my child's lack of a test score make life hard for his/her teacher?  Would opting out hurt my child's school?  Would I have to justify my family's decision to the school or district? Would my child or myself be seen as an irritant or inconvenience?  Was I just making too big a deal out of this testing stuff?

As high-stakes testing and Common Core continued to erode my children's well-rounded and quality education, I became more upset that nothing was changing.  The state continued to disinvest and ignore funding opportunities that made a positive difference in the lives of students such as PE, music, art, library, sports, home economics, wood shop, foreign languages, project-based learning, and smaller class sizes.  Instead the focus was on spending money on longitudinal databases to house student data such as test scores, expensive new testing, and mandating Common Core.

And I wondered:  how did I,  and thousands of Oregonians before Oregon Save Our Schools: Opting Out: My Story in Taking the Plunge!: