Parents and educators alike have been questioning the increasing number of standardized tests now required in public schools. A measure filed by Illinois State Representative Will Guzzardi would give moms and dads a way to allow their kid to skip these exams.
“Seven other states have statutes allowing parents to opt out of their standardized testing,” Guzzardi says. “Those states haven’t seen any sort of diminishment of their federal funding or anything like that, as some of the doom-and-gloom folks suggest might happen.”Those states are California, Pennsylvania, Washington, Wisconsin, Oregon, Nebraska and Utah.
The Chicago Democrat says that under Illinois School Code, kids actually already have the right to opt out.
“They can go up to their teacher and verbally say, ‘I don’twannatake this test,’ and they will be excused from taking it.”
His bill would give parents a tool to request that their child not be tested, with no penalty to the teacher, school or student.
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