The Smarter Balanced Test - Parents and Lawmakers are Still Playing this Out
Oregon Live: Oregon risks losing $140 million for enabling kids to skip Common Core tests, feds warn
Key Points:
This article talks about the current status on the parent backlash against the new testing in our schools. Oregon lawmakers are trying to make it easier for parents to opt out of testing. Currently they can but they need to site religious reasons. This law would enable parents to opt their children out without stating a reason. Supporter also want parents to be informed of their ability to opt out and also have schools with large opt out rate be protected against the consequences of the lower test scores that the school could average in this situation. The article reports that this law would put Title I money at risk because it has a mandatory testing requirement.
My kids took these tests this year. Apparently it was very different from the old OAKS test. I'm not sure how I feel about it, I guess we will see how effective they are. However, my son was put through the wringer at his school. He is a part time middle school student, but they had him do test after test, even in the subjects where he did not participate in school and it was crammed into the reduced time that he was at school. He is a good student so I assume they wanted his test scores on their record. This in itself isn't a result of the new tests, but the combination of having him do a lot of testing in a short time and having the tests be more challenging was not a good experience for him. He usually does not mind testing at all, but this year he really did.
Relevance:
This is a pretty big movement in our schools here in Oregon as well as across the nation. It will be interesting how it plays out.
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