How the testing opt-out movement hurts low-income students

VIRGINIA EDUCATION officials last week revealed that an Alexandria school tried to improve its ratings by using the state’s new law allowing parents to opt their children out of standardized tests. It wasn’t the only troubling disclosure; the state reported that an increasing number of parents throughout the commonwealth are having their children skip the annual state tests. Both facts should give pause to lawmakers who this year put their imprimatur on the pernicious opt-out movement, as well as Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who signed it into law.

Tests provide objective information about how well students are doing and what help they need. Anything that discourages participation does a disservice to children. That was underscored by the events in the spring at the Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology. Teachers at the high-poverty school, according to a school district investigation released by state officials, targeted parents of low-performing students to get their kids to skip taking the state Standards of Learning exams. The principal who allegedly hatched the scheme — and unaccountably still has a job — apparently thought it an easier way of improving the school’s overall performance than actually giving these students the help they needed.

As Education Trust’s Kati Haycock told The Post, “Kids who are not tested do not count.” She said if schools can “opt out their poor kids, their kids of color, their disproportionately low-achieving kids, they will never do the work to get those kids to achieve at high levels.”

The opt-out movement hurts these at-risk children in another way, by sabotaging the collection of data that shows disparities in education. White suburban parents, the driving force of the opt-out movement, may think their children are achieving and don’t need to be tested or are overtested, but having their children sit out tests denies school officials the information they need. Taking a yearly test is not a hardship and might even tell these parents something they need to know about their children.

The number of parents opting out in Virginia is still small, but there has been an increase since this year’s adoption of the law that allows students to skip testing without it affecting a school’s overall rating. Figures from the state Education Department show there were parent refusals for 3,272 tests in 2015-2016, compared with 1,460 tests in 2014-2015. In 2013-2014, before opt-out came into effect, there were refusals for 681 tests. When the General Assembly returns next year, it needs to reexamine the wisdom of this law.