Common Core – Not So Optional
Ben Sklar | The New York Times
An Alabama 8th grader was suspended twice for opting out of the state’s Common Core standardized test. 14-year-old Alyssa McKinney told officials at Whitesburg Middle School in Huntsville that she was not going to take the test because she did not think it was right, WAAY 31 reported. She was sent to in-school suspension for her choice, then suspended when she opted out again on a third day of testing.
The Alabama Department of Education said on their Facebook page that parents can choose to have their child be absent if they submit a refusal in writing. McKinney’s mother Molly Overton has already written a note opting her daughter out of the ACT Aspire college readiness test which began this week, WAAY reported.
Fox News noted that McKinney’s suspension is not the first instance of a student being punished for opting out of the new standardized tests.
A 13-year-old student at Orange-Ulster BOCES in Goshen, New York was suspended in April for “insubordination” because she told classmates that they could opt out of the Common Core English test.
In California, a 12-year old student at a Sacramento Elementary School was outraged when his mother was banned from school grounds because he was handing out opt-out forms to fellow students, The Daily Caller reported. The school principal allegedly snapped and banned the mother after she stopped by to ask why her son’s forms had been confiscated.
Some school districts have taken an opposite approach. In Arkport, N.Y., third through sixth grade students were rewarded with ice cream if they took the standardized English tests. Students who opted out were denied the sweet treats, Fox News reported.
In Central New York, more than 600 students opted out of the state English exams in April. Statewide, an estimated 30,000 students refused to take the Common Core assessments.
The Washington Post reported, some New York parents are outraged after learning their children who opted out of Common Core testing are being forced to sit and stare for hours at a time while the other children take exams. According to the New York State United Teachers Union, at least 15 school districts in the state are choosing the sit-and-stare policy for students who opt out of testing.
