In protest of Common Core, parents and kids opting out of state testing

This spring, many students across the country face new standardized tests designed to align with new education standards such as Common Core. But the length and difficulty of the tests, among other concerns, are sparking opposition and even outrage in many communities. While Congress debates standardized testing on Capitol Hill, local voices ranging from state governors to public-school parents are pushing back against the demands of standardized tests.

Upon learning that Indiana’s ISTEP standardized tests had increased from five hours and nine minutes to over 11 hours, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed an executive order the second week of February to shorten the test. “Doubling the length of the 2015 ISTEP test is unacceptable and requires an immediate solution,” Pence said in a statement.

On Thursday, about one week before the start of the testing window, the Indiana Department of Education issued a release including guidance to reduce the test by three hours and five minutes.

Principals and teachers are also publicly protesting some standardized tests. In a tearful speech to her Board of Education, posted on a blog for The Washington Post, Jennifer Rickert, a New York state teacher for 22 years, explained why she would request reassignment on the 2015 Common Core English Language Arts Assessment days.

Rickert said she sobbed after reading the educator’s guide to the test.

“This is not developmentally appropriate for my students, and I find it cruel and harmful to suggest that it is,” she said in her speech. “I do not believe in knowingly setting my students up for failure.”

Some advocates and teachers are encouraging parents to boycott the standardized tests by refusing to allow their children to take them. And vocal “opt-out” movements are growing in many states.

NYS Allies For Public Education (NYSAPE) and other sources report parents of as many as 60,000 New York state students boycotted testing in 2014. NYSAPE advocates parents refuse testing in grades 3-8. Its Indiegogo page to raise money for “Refuse the Tests” billboards, started on January 25, had received $10,690 as of Monday.

Marie Blistan, the vice president of the New Jersey Education Association testified before the state Assembly’s education committee in support of giving parents right to exempt their children from standardized tests. “Parents should not have to worry that their children will face negative consequences … if they refuse the test,” Blistan said in her prepared testimony.

Heidi Huber, the financial administrator for a K-12 Christian academy in Ohio, founded Ohioans Against Common Core two years ago and is also encouraging parents to exempt their children from the new standardized tests being implemented this spring. She sees opting out of the tests as a way for parents to protect their children, but also as a form of civil disobedience, sending a message to the state.

The Ohio Department of Education issued “Information on Student Participation in State Tests” which warns, “If a parent withdraws his or her child’s participation in certain state tests, there may be consequences for the child, the child’s teacher, and the school and district.”

But the Ohioans Against Common Core website assures,“Ohio parents can exempt their child from Spring 2015 PARCC tests without affecting their grades, promotion or graduation.”

“The upside of all of this is it’s been so rewarding to watch parents re-engage with their child’s education,” said Huber. She acknowledged parents should be prepared for a long path of engagement. But she said if fighting Common Core was the price they had to pay to get parents involved in education, “then, to me, it has actually been a positive thing because, ultimately, I don’t think you solve the problems we have within our society and culture until you get parents re-engaged.”