The Groundhog did not see his shadow this year so that means we have a few more weeks (or months, depending where you live) of Winter, unless of course you mark the coming of Spring by standardized testing. Every April, hundreds of thousands of Georgia school children take the Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) as part of our state's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmark. Despite receiving a recent No Child Left Behind waiver from President Obama, our state will continue to administer this test to students.
A phone call from a parent, and complete stranger, 2 weeks ago got me to rethinking standardized tests, especially since my 5th grade Gwinnett County student will have taken four standardized and several other county-mandated tests by the end of this school year. During our conversation, the parent mentioned that she was informed about parents' right to opt-out of standardized testing for their kids. Since I have been out of the classroom for almost 6 years, I had not done any thorough research into this possible waiver but I was definitely very interested in finding out if this information was indeed valid or an innocent rumor that had gotten out of control.
The Georgia Department of Education Assessment and Accountability Division representative stated that Georgia does not have an 'opt-out' policy because the CRCT is state-mandated and used for federal accountability. In addition, Georgia's promotion/retention policy for 5th graders is tied directly to the CRCT results; Gwinnett has additional requirements as well. The Assessment Coordinator for the school district provided an almost identical explanation, but both responses stated students are required to pass both the Math and Reading portions of the test; no mention of Science, Social Studies, or Language Arts. After asking for clarification in writing, the local testing coordinator and I spoke over the phone and she advised me to contact the school regarding additional promotion requirements. The inquiry has been sent back to the state and I am awaiting a follow-up response.
If my child can opt-out of the non-essential portions of the test, e.g. Science, Social Studies, etc., we will take advantage of that option. My daughter has done well on every administration of the CRCT, but I believe the testing 'fever' has run rampant. States and districts irresponsibly spend millions of dollars on testing materials each year in lieu of providing additional classroom resources, enrichment programs, etc. At a time when classrooms are growing, students' needs are changing, and the dollar buys less than it previously did, we have to start demanding better use of financial resources with regard to our childrens' education. Moving towards fewer standardized tests is a start.
It's time for parents to 'Stand Up. Opt Out.'
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