Why more Tenn. parents plan to opt children out of state testing
Stacey Travis, a mom and a math teacher for Maryville City Schools is looking forward to getting the results from the state assessments her children will take this spring.
A 15-year veteran teacher, Travis recently started teaching Algebra II again. She is hoping to find out what she taught well or could cover better after her high school students test.
She also wants to know how her own children are performing and if they have any gaps in their learning due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic this year.
In fact, she is disappointed she doesn’t have data from last year for her fifth-grader. Connor, 10, has a visual impairment and along with his doctors, Travis relies on his test results to see how he is doing academically. Is he is struggling while reading long passages or studying graphs?
But not all parents feel the same way. Though Tennessee has not usually seen large swaths of parents “opting out” of required state assessments each year, some parents say they don’t want their students testing this year, especially as the state requires testing inperson.
Testing students who missed months of school thanks to the pandemic or spent most of the year learning virtually is unfair or a waste of time, they argue.
Other parents who kept their children at home learning remotely refuse to risk the health and safety they’ve worked hard to maintain by sending their children to schools to test.
Now, local and national organizations like the National Center for Fair and Open Testing and Save Our Schools Tennessee, a political action committee, are also weighing in.
Students learning virtually are required to test in-person
Every year, students in grades 3 through 8 take Tnready, Tennessee’s standardized assessment. The test covers English language arts, math, science and social studies. High school students take end-of-the-year courses for select subjects including English, algebra, geometry, biology and U.S. History.
Unlike last spring when statewide tests were canceled, both Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn have advocated for the testing system to remain in place this year. This year, the tests are mandatory, but the results won’t count against teachers or schools.
State and federal law requires student participation in state assessments and a Tennessee Department of Education memo recently emphasized that “parents may not refuse or opt a child out of participating.”
This year, Metro Nashville Public Schools will administer tests in-person between April 21 and May 14, since the state extended the time period districts can administer tests this spring from six to nine weeks.
Metro Schools won’t count test results toward a student’s grades this year, though, according to a district email sent to parents.
“The fact that the state has made zero accommodations for virtual testing for this test — knowing for months that this test would be offered and that tens of thousands of children are still virtual — is simply insane,” Nicole Provonchee, parent of two elementary students in Nashville, said in an email.
“So now, parents who have elected to hold their children out of school for a year will be asked to bring their children to school for four days of testing. The recourse for those parents who do not want to bring their child to school — you simply skip the test.”
Metro Schools has said students who do not come to school to test but still participate in virtual instruction on those days will not be counted absent for attendance purposes. But district protocols vary.
In Williamson County, Candice Colson , a former educator and mother of a fifth- and seventh-grader, was told her children would be counted absent if they refused to test.
Both her children have learned remotely the entire school year, while Colson and her husband also work from home and care for their younger children.
“We’ve been online all year. I’m not sending my children,” Colson said. “I don’t feel comfortable sending them into school just to test.”
Colson also worries about the time wasted on tests that “won’t count.”
Some advocates, like those affiliated with Save Our Schools Tennessee, which include former Nashville school board member Amy Frogge, are latching on to pandemic-related testing concerns.
They argue excessive “high-stakes testing” takes away time for teachers to teach and students to learn.
“Children spend hours upon hours taking standardized tests every year. The high-stakes standardized testing racket in Tennessee deprives students of learning time, shifts teachers’ focus from teaching to testing, and wastes huge sums of money,” read a guide the political action committee recently published for parents who want to refuse to test.
Pitting parents against schools
Cory Koslin, the parent of three students who attend College Grove Elementary in Williamson County, called the district’s attendance policy an “enormous insult.”
“My children have been online this school year — I have asthma and my doctor flatly told me that I ‘cannot get’ COVID, so we made the decision to keep them home,” Koslin wrote in an email to Daniel Cash, the Williamson County school board member who represents his district.
“Other family members are also highrisk for COVID, which made our decision clear,” Koslin said. “Why was online school made an option at all, if the school system is throwing away eight months of hard work and diligence to punish our kids?”
The state education department’s recent memo said districts are not authorized to adopt policies allowing parents to opt-out or refuse to test. The state directed districts to handle absences from testing the same way they would any other absence from a mandatory school function.
Districts like Metro Schools have the option not to count tests toward student grades and lawmakers passed a bill during a January special legislative session ensuring student test results would not be used punitively against teachers or schools this year.
But there was a caveat. The Tennessee Department of Education said only districts and schools where at least 80% of students participated in this year’s tests will be held harmless from the results.
“Concrete data from testing that is aligned to Tennessee standards and grade-level expectations will help parents, educators, and school, district and state leaders fully understand where students need additional support,” Victoria Robinson, spokesperson for the department, said in an email.
The department argues the federal government requires 95% of students to participate in assessments, and President Joe Biden’s administration has made it clear that it will not consider “blanket waivers of assessments” this year.
Federal law requires states to administer these annual exams, officials say, and the results are used not only to judge schools and sometimes teachers on their performance but also can trigger improvement efforts.
Nonetheless, the Tennessee Education Department requested a waiver from the 95% participation rate from the U.S. Department of Education on Feb. 1, Robinson said.
She also notes that most districts that opted to conduct limited testing in the fall of 2020 were able to hit the 80% participation rate, though the state’s two largest school districts, Metro Schools and Shelby County Schools, were both remote for much of the fall semester.
‘The emotional impact’
The state has provided guidance for students “impacted medically by COVID-19” or those with pre-existing health conditions that might be eligible for medical exemptions. But parents still argue the scope is too limited.
Mary Lou Mangan-lamb, a parent of two students in Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga, has always been apprehensive about state testing. But this year she is concerned about the emotional impact it can have on her children.
“My kids have been home for about 12 months now. My kids aren’t allowed in the building, but you’re going to put them in just to test?” Mangan-lamb said.
“What about the emotional impact this will have? I think it’s going to put too much pressure on them.”