A New York Times article published Sunday examines the small but highly visible “Opt-Out” movement that’s gaining traction across the states. Organizers of the movement are critical of standardized tests and are flatly refusing to have their children take the exams. That’s causing a lot of tension between parents and school administrators:
Education officials and some experts say the new tests, which require more writing and critical thinking, as opposed to filling in bubbles on an answer sheet, are a vast improvement over previous exams. And the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers will give detailed, individual feedback to children in New Jersey for the first time. But in virtually every state, the tests will be tougher than the old ones, stoking fears that scores will plummet, as they did when New York began using its new exams.
Read more at the New York Times.