When kids come home defeated and broken because they failed another test or because they haven’t quite made “proficiency”, the first thing many parents would say is, “don’t give up; keep trying.”  However, some of these children will never pass these tests and will continue to fail, re-take and fail again. I just spoke with an educators today and she said her third graders aren’t eating, some are thawing up and many are crying because they are so afraid of failing the test and being retained an unable to move on to fourth grade.  Why is this happening to our children?

Currently in Florida, it is $15 for every student taking the reading FCAT, which is just one of many standardized tests given every year.  Many students fail and have to retake the test over and over again throughout their time in school.  Multiply every retake by $15 dollars and by every student retaking, and Pearson, the company that constructs this test, reaps pretty big profits. Pearson doesn’t just make the FCAT; it makes many other tests in many other states having the same effect on kids all over the country.

You don’t have to be a clinical psychiatrist to know our current testing situation in this country isn’t good for the development of a young person.  I saw it first hand every day as a high school teacher and then as an assistant principal.  Tears aren’t reserved for elementary school; I have seen 18-year-old students sobbing uncontrollably in my office because they failed the reading test again, a test they have been taking their entire academic careers.

Right now our educational system is test obsessed and it has nothing to do with student achievement and everything to do with large corporations that fund congressional campaigns.  Standardized test makers like Pearson and College Board have some of the biggest legislative lobbies in the country.

Most parents do not understand the accountability system, especially poor minority parents whose children are the ones most negatively affected by these harmful testing practices.  Also, most parents do not have the money to send their children to private schools where testing is not happening on the level it is in public school.

However, many Americans are no longer putting their faith in the educational system turned profit-generating factories at the expense of our kids. United Opt Out National is teaching parents about our complicated assessment system and even providing answers and alternatives to parents who want to keep their children from experiencing the hazards of over assessment.  The current system is designed to be confusing so people don’t ask questions.

Bottom line, parents are opting out and saying no more testing.  Opt Out is providing guidance and the steps parents and teachers can take to exercise their rights in keeping their children from abusive practices disguised as accountability measures.

The Opt Out Movement is comprised of parents, educators and community members from all over the country who believe standardized testing to be detrimental to the learning and educational process of students.  Some Opt Out members are extremely conservative aligning themselves with the tea party; others are as liberal as those sipping kombucha in the Castro District in San Francisco.  And there are of course a multitude of parents who reside in the middle.  However, they all agree on one thing, they do not want standardized testing and corporations’ profit margins determining the worth of our children.

The mother ship of this whole operation, United Opt Out National, has a clear mission:

“We believe that high stakes testing is destructive to ALL children, educators, communities, the quality of instruction in classrooms, equity in schooling, and the democratic principles which underlie the purposes of public education. We believe that a quality public education is a basic human right for all children, one which must remain in the hands of our communities and out of the hands of big business, corporate reformers and politicians. If we are to save, and transform, public education into spaces where ALL children have an opportunity to flourish, grow, question, challenge, think and be prepared as democratic citizens, we must begin with the fight to end the high stakes testing movement.”

Parents all over the country are choosing to Opt Out of standardized testing for their children.  It is a controversial move putting principals, district leaders and teachers in a precarious situation.  Many principals and district leaders do not appreciate the movement because it puts their school grade, another ridiculous accountability tactic, at risk.  However, some principals understand they cannot continue to perpetuate bad education policy.  Rather than making parents keep their kids out of school during the testing window, which could be up to 10 days, they are restructuring their schedules to accommodate students not taking the tests.

Here are three things you need to know when opting out:

  1. Large corporations build these tests and make an exorbitant amount of money off of them.  Making every student take these tests is unfair and unnecessary.  Districts could sample 3000 students randomly and determine what changes are necessary based on those scores.  3000 is a huge sample size and to represent the states population.  This way tests would be informative not punitive.  Making every child take the test is not about accountability; it’s about money.
  2. You have the right to opt out of these tests. Principals and district leaders will try and scare you by citing legislation.  However, I encourage you to go to this website http://unitedoptout.com and click on opt out guides by state.  Here you will find out exactly what your rights are and how to go about removing your child from abusive testing practices.
  3. The more who stand up, the more attention this movement will receive. High stakes testing is harming our young people and teachers and administrators are being put in the position of hurting children by having to administer these tests.  It needs to stop.  We can stop it by Opting Out.

This is how policy changes take place: exercising social disobedience and disrupting a harmful system designed to penalize students, teachers and parents.  The Opt Out Movement and its members are adamant; they will no longer participate in bad education policy driven by corporations.