Opponents seeking new ways to upend Louisiana’s use of the Common Core education standards have targeted public school standardized testing scheduled for mid-March, with some parents refusing to let their children take the assessments.
The Associated Press reports only a handful of parents have taken the “opt-out” approach so far, but some education officials are concerned the refusals will become more widespread.
Common Core critics, including Gov. Bobby Jindal, are using the concerns to try to reopen state education board debate on the grade-by-grade English and math standards adopted by more than 40 states.
“Parents and teachers have clearly articulated their frustrations at meetings across the state, and many of them are loudly voicing their opposition to these tests,” Jindal says in a statement. “Ignoring and downplaying these concerns are wrong.”
Supporters of Common Core say it makes no sense for parents to keep their children from testing that determines how much students have learned during the school year.
“Refusing to take the test doesn’t change the fact that we’re still teaching to those standards. In fact, it means nothing except that we won’t know whether those students actually learned what they were taught,” Barry Erwin, head of the Council for A Better Louisiana, wrote in commentary released today.
The extent of student refusals to take the Common Core tests—which will be given to 320,000 students in grades three through eight during the week of March 16—remains unclear. Read the full story.
