Posted: 7:00 a.m. Friday,Feb. 13, 2015

IN OUR SCHOOLS

Some parents opting kids out of state tests

By Jeremy P. Kelley and Eric Schwartzberg

Staff Writer

    With Ohio’snew, harder state tests just days away, parents and schools are weighing arelatively new phenomenon — families refusing to have their students take theannual state exams.

    The Ohio Department of Education advisedschools last week that they are required to test all students in specifiedgrades and subjects, and that there may be consequences “for the child, thechild’s teacher, and the school and district” if students refuse.

    Nevertheless, the Operation Opt-Out OhioFacebook page has hundreds of comments from parents statewide — some from Hamilton, Fairfield,West Chester Twp. and Liberty Twp. — who say their children will not take statetests. Their reasons range from anger at overtesting, the use of test scores toevaluate teachers, arguments that the tests are not developmentally appropriatebased on students’ grade level, and more.

    Amie Hartman of Liberty Twp. said shedownloaded a “safe harbor” form, or opt-out form, from Operation Opt Out Ohioto submit to Lakota’s VanGorden Elementary School.Hartman said she won’t have her third and fourth graders take the test because,as one example, fourth-graders’ testing schedule shows 15 testing days out of a44-day period of school.

    “Over one-third of their days have someform of testing in them,” Hartman said. “I think it’s very disheartening for9-year-olds and also for their teachers, who would much rather be using that asinstructional time. On top of that, they have to dedicate time to practicetests, to practicing instruction time to show them how to correctly take thetest.”

    Shannon Friend of Monroe echoed Hartman’s concerns. Friend haschildren in third, fourth and sixth grade in Monroe Local School District and hasopted all of them out of next week’s testing.

    “It’s not as much this particular testing,as it’s the one I can take a stand in, just saying how overtested our childrenare without major repercussions for my kids,” Friend said. “More so thananything, I’ve been hearing for years from friends who are teachers how allthey’re doing is teaching to a test, and for them, they deem it as criminal tonot arm the kids with that education for the test, but they also are well awarethat that’s not where the kids should be going.”

    ODE officials say state testing is criticalfor measuring student learning and holding schools accountable to parents andtaxpayers.

    “It’s important for parents that everyyear, their child is learning and progressing. That’s the promise we make toparents as public schools,” said ODE spokesman John Charlton. “These tests areone way to check the progress of these students.”

New testing system

    Ohio is switching from the old paper OhioAchievement Assessments to a new set of tests this year that are longer, moredifficult and largely taken on computers. The English and math tests are tiedto the Common Core standards. Current high school sophomores and above arestill grandfathered into the old Ohio Graduation Test.

    State officials have said new learning standardsand tests are important in measuring whether students can apply concepts andsolve problems rather than just memorize, an issue they say is crucial inpreparing students for a changing workforce. Local business groups such as theChamber of Commerce have supported that position.

    State school board President Tom Gunlock,of Centerville, said the minimum scores needed to be deemed proficient on pastOhio tests ranged from 32 percent of questions correct to 57 percent, so higherstandards may be needed. Proficiency levels for the new tests have not yet beenset.

    “I firmly believe that over time, kids aregoing to rise to the occasion and do just as well on these tests as they did on(the OAAs),” Gunlock said.

    State school board member A.J. Wagnerdisagreed, arguing that many students are not   prepared for the harder tests, will fail, andthen give up.

    “Some kids are very stressed about takingtests, and there are a lot of parents who don’t see any value in tests,” saidWagner, who represents the state Board of Education’s 3rd district, whichincludes Butler County. “If they believe that it’s bestfor their child, then that’s fine, don’t take the test. At the same time, wehave this federal mandate to require tests. …    I’m in a position of trust on the schoolboard. I don’t want to say do it (opt-out), but I can understand anyone whosays they will.”

    Wagner said the amount of time now devotedto preparation and testing is one of the biggest complaints. In addition totaking away from teaching time, he said it leaves school computers unavailablefor weeks, takes away counselors’ time during college application season andrequires extra staffing to prepare for and oversee testing.

    The Ohio Department of Education identifiedconsequences for skipping tests – most third-graders would have to repeat thegrade if they didn’t earn a passing score on the reading test. Ninth-graderscould limit their graduation options if they skipped new end-of-course exams.School districts could score worse on the state report card if numerousstudents skipped state tests, or they could face federal spending restrictionsif test participation goes below 95 percent.

    Senate Education Committee Chair PeggyLehner, R-Kettering, suggested another problem with opting out.

    “This is a transition year to a new test,”Lehner said. “We are trying to find out how our students will do, and what arethe problems with test questions, test administration, test technology. Byopting out, all they’re doing is skewing the results, and not giving us a clear-cutpicture of how well the test measures the things we’re trying to test.”

    Meanwhile, there is significant anti-testmomentum. Ohio’sstate legislature has introduced bills to limit testing. State schoolSuperintendent Richard Ross recommended cuts to local and state testing hoursthat were picked up in Gov. John Kasich’s budget proposal. And thesuperintendents of Springboro, Little Miami and Mason schools all wrote lettersabout testing problems this month.

    “I liken the current approach to using anMRI and CAT scan to diagnose a medical issue when a thermometer would do thetrick,” Mason Superintendent Gail Kist-Kline wrote.

    Schools would like to see everyone take thetest, Orr said, not just because the district will be held accountable, butbecause the tests provide crucial data to educators.

    “It provides practice,” he said, for futuretests like the ACTs. “And it allows us to have baseline data to help studentsimprove.”

    Butler County school districtstold the Journal-News they provide parents who inquire about opting out an OhioDepartment Education link regarding state assessments and studentparticipation. District officials said they received that information from ODElast week and were advised to use it to respond to questions.

    Sam Ison, superintendent of Middletown City School District,said students who opt out in his district will be given other work oractivities while they are not testing.

    But before a parent allows their child toget to that point, the district attempts to intercede.

    “A school principal talks to them andbasically lets them know what the implications are,” Ison said. “We basicallytalk about what the student has to do during that period of time and how thatwill impact the school.”

    Ison said more parents are likely to jointhe “opt out” movement if testing levels are increased.

    “Even with current testing, the moreawareness there is, obviously there probably will be more,” he said. “Ianticipate that.”

    Lani Wildow, director of curriculum andinstruction for Fairfield City School District, said the tests are supposed to beindicators of the students’ readiness for the next grade or next phase of life.

    “Without the information we are concernedthat we will not have enough data to make quality instructional decisions forthese students for the next school year,” she said.

Fairfield City School District will handle testingitself no differently than with previous testing refusals, Wildow said.

    “The student will be presented with thetest,” Wildow said. “If the student does not take the test, he or she willreceive a zero.”

    Michelle Saylor of Fairfield said she is fine with that optionbecause the testing “does not affect my child’s grade in any way, shape orform.”

    “It is only reflective of the district andthe schools,” she said. “They get a certain amount of money from the state foreach kid who actually takes these test, so it’s beneficial for them for them topush each and every kid to take the examination. They need 95 percentattendance rate to get a certain grading. They get points for each and everychild that takes the test.”

    Despite the district’s assertion that she’snot allowed to opt out of the testing for her child,    Saylor said she knows there is no legalobligation for her child to be tested next week.

    “It’s not law that every kid sit and takethe test,” she said. “The law is that the actual schools administer the test.”

    If there really was a law about it,districts like Lakota, Mason, Lebanon andothers wouldn’t be allowing parents to opt out, Saylor said.

    Fairfieldwill follow the guidance of its legal counsel with regard to the testing, andwill not honor the opt out forms “because these are not forms created by ordistributed by the ODE,” according to spokeswoman Gina Gentry-Fletcher.

     Saylor said she instead submitted twoletters of refusal to the district, one for each of her third-grade twins.

NEW STATE TESTS

Feb. 16 to March 20: Performance-based tests that includeshort-answer questions, short essays and the need to show work on mathproblems.

April 13 to May 15: End of course tests focusing more ontraditional multiple-choice questions.

Eachtest could include multiple 60-90-minute sections.