As an educator I can’t help but be interested in the growing number of parents who are choosing to opt their children out of standardized testing driven in most states by the infamous common core. As the dreaded testing season approaches, articles seem to be popping up all over the Internet detailing this movement. In an era where educators are called to defend things like the offering of electives to students, I am surely anxious to see how this movement develops. Some pertinent articles and resources:

Kathy Matheson’s “Testy Over Testing: More Students Snub Standardized Exams” at the Huffington Post.

This article explores a variety of communities where parents are taking the little explored option to remove their children from standardized testing. Even teachers are holding evening workshops to increase awareness of this option. Several alternatives to high stakes testing are suggested.

Valerie Strauss’s “Principal: ‘There Comes a Time When Rules Must Be Broken...That Time is Now’” at the Washington Post.

This blog entry includes a post by award winning principal Carol Burris from New York who feels led to make her parents aware of the opt out choice with regard to standardized testing. Several movements in New York, New Jersey, and California are noted. Burris also provides compelling details regarding 4 reasons she believes the opt out movement will continue to grow: Backlash Against the Common Core, Lack of Evidence that the Testing Movement is Increasing Gains in Student Achievement, Annual high-stakes testing has not resulted in equity gains, and the Realization About the True Agenda of Standardized Testing. Burris provides link to a variety of studies to support her arguments that should be thought provoking and conversation inducing. Fairtest.org offers a variety of resources for parents who are considering opting out of standardized testing.
From the website: The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) advances quality education and equal opportunity by promoting fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial evaluations of students, teachers and schools. FairTest also works to end the misuses and flaws of testing practices that impede those goals.

Charlie Boss’s “Opting Out of State Tests Has Costs for Ohio Students, Schools” at The Columbus Dispatch.
This article explores some of the drawbacks in Ohio for opting out of state testing, suggesting that such a movement is not necessarily an easy fix for the problems of testing.