High Stakes Testing

The following Senators voted NO to SB1455, the bill that gives parents the right to opt their children out of statewide assessments, such as the wretched AzMERIT, and others like it.  These Senators believe that parents have no right to determine what is in the best interest of their child.

Time may be very short until sine die (end of the legislative session), but if these Senators really want to change their vote and pass SB1455, they can make it happen!    

This is not a partisan issue.  Please call them, email them. Endlessly.  Do it for your kids! 

On 2/16/2016, the executive director of the State Board of Education Dr. Karol Schmidt, without authorization from the Board, testified before the Senate Ed. Committee quoting from a 12/22/2015 letter from the U.S. Department of Education.  She reiterated threats in the letter signed by Ann Whalen, which indicated certain financial and other punitive measures that  Arizona could use against schools in order to force at least 95% participation of students in academic assessments.  Dr. Schmidt’s "message" was loud and clear to Arizona Senators:  Do NOT allow parents the right to Opt their children out of AzMERIT!   If your child has been coerced by teachers and other school officials into taking AzMERIT, this would explain one of the many reasons for it.  

New York Congressman Tom Reed, who had voted for the new ESSA law and disagreed with Ms. Whalen’s interpretation, decided it was important to send a rebuttal, reasserting parents and students’ right to opt-out of high stakes federal testing.  That rebuttal, which follows, was signed by 19 U.S. Congressmen, including Arizona Congressman Matt Salmon. 

If you are a parent who has been denied your right to opt your child out of taking AzMERIT.  If you are a parent whose child has been bullied by the school into taking AzMERIT, send this post to them.  Send this post to the Arizona Senators who voted NO to your right to opt out of AzMERIT and any other standardized test based on Common Core (aka Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards.)  Click HERE for a list of Senators, including contact information, who voted No to SB1455, the Parental Opt Out bill.

Click HERE for a screen shot of the letter, which follows.  Click HERE for a screen shot of the signatures to the letter.

Click HERE for the press release Reed Stands with Students, Parents from U.S. Congressman Tom Reed.  Click HERE for a news story Reed Supports Parents’ Right To Opt Out Of Testing.

See below for the letter.     

If you have a child in grades 3 through 11 of the public school system, he/she will be "required" to take the AzMERIT standardized test.  It is based on Common Core (aka Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards).  There is much controversy about both.   A simple search through this website will provide you with many articles about both.

The website Opt Out AZ! Empowering Parents to Opt Out of the AzMERIT has published a post titled Opt Out FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions to help parents whose children are being persuaded, cajoled, lied to, intimidated, and threatened into taking this worthless, unvalidated, expensive, psychologically damaging test.  

Questions that are answered in Opt Out FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions include:

Letter of Assertion to Opt Out and Refuse the AZMerit Test

Dear Principal _____________________ and Superintendent_____________________, I do not want my child, _____________________________, to take the AZMerit test, or any other tests based on the CCSS.

I oppose having my child’s range of intellectual and emotional qualities measured by standardized tests. I am dissatisfied with these tests, because they don’t measure meaningful learning, they create inappropriate pressures on children, they create counterproductive rivalry among schools, they’re responsible for less engaging education because teachers feel compelled to raise the scores by “teaching to the test”, and finally, better forms of assessment are available, such as portfolio assessments.

I also object on moral grounds to standardized tests contributing to discrimination, increasing pupil alienation, and spurring unsuccessful students to drop out. I find standardized testing socially unconscionable – leading to gate keeping and perpetuating social segregation. In addition, I object to the personally identifiable data collection that will be obtained on my child via the AZMerit test and stored in the State Wide Longitudinal Data Systems  and managed through the U.S. Department of Education and distributed among companies and organizations who have taken part in the development and implementation of the CCSS and related assessments. Data collected on my child, without my permission, is in violation of the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

As a concerned parent with the responsibility and right to be involved in the academic training of my child (Arizona Revised Statute 15–102), it is within my legal and moral right to opt out of standardized testing and insist upon better ways of evaluating my child’s understanding of ideas. I request useful assessments which advance fairness, accuracy, quality, and equity: evaluations such as the Learning Record (analysis of students’ learning over time by a teacher who knows them well), work sampling over time, structured and informal observations and interviews, performance and exhibitions, audio and videotapes, portfolio and journal assessments, and evaluation including input from teachers, students, parents, counselors, and principals.

I am also against any tests, where graded results are not given to the students so that they may see their mistakes and learn from them. I would ask that the school please provide an alternative activity for my child during administrative sessions of testing (not makeup tests, as my child will be in his/her regular classroom environment during makeup test). However, I understand that an alternative activity is not required on the part of the school. If you are unable to provide an alternative activity for my child, I would ask that you please allow my child to read silently.

I am reserving the option of removing my child from school during the test administration session depending on the emotional anxiety of my child on the day of refusal and whether or not the school will provide appropriate alternate activities for my child. Thank you very much. I am looking forward to the remainder of the school year.

_______________________________________ Signature of parent/guardian ______________________ Date

Click HERE to print out a copy of the Refusal letter.