{"id":29690,"date":"2016-02-23T15:03:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-23T21:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=29690"},"modified":"2016-02-23T15:03:56","modified_gmt":"2016-02-23T21:03:56","slug":"anti-testing-movement-plans-2016-strategy-as-education-cuts-take-center-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/anti-testing-movement-plans-2016-strategy-as-education-cuts-take-center-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-testing movement plans 2016 strategy as education cuts take center stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Morgan Gilbard\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anti-testing advocates worry that the opt-out movement will take a backseat this year as Chicago Public Schools and the state drown in a sea of other problems.<\/p>\n

Concern over budget cuts and teacher union negotiations threaten to overshadow a movement that led to 20,000 Chicago students opting out of standardized tests last year. Statewide, 44,000 students opted out of tests.
\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has an impact in that there\u2019s only so much energy to put into these things,\u201d explained Cassie Creswell, an organizer for More Than a Score.<\/p>\n

The popular anti-testing group began planning their strategy for 2016 last\u00a0week on the South Side of Chicago. More Than a Score didn\u2019t expect last year\u2019s surge of support and cite CPS\u2019s growing tension with the community as a key factor in making the movement more prominent, according to Creswell.<\/p>\n

While the movement could get a similar surge of support this year, organizers also anticipate more obstacles. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to be concerned about tests when parents are worried about, \u2018Oh, is my student going to have a teacher to give him that test?’ \u201d Creswell said.<\/p>\n

Creswell withdrew her two children from CPS because of its testing policies, which she felt impacted the curriculum in a \u201cdevelopmentally inappropriate\u201d way. She has no regrets about switching schools. \u201cIt\u2019s important not to be complicit in the system and take direct action and say, \u2018We\u2019re fed up.’ \u201d<\/p>\n

Debate over testing reaches beyond Chicago<\/h2>\n

Overall, 2.1 percent of Illinois public school students opted-out of testing in 2015, approximately 3 percentage points under the penalty threshold set by the federal government, according to the State Board of Education. State officials warned last year that if more than 5 percent of students refused to take required tests, Illinois would face sanctions as severe as a possible loss of $1 million in federal funding.<\/p>\n

However, some school and state officials side with anti-testing organizers. U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-14th District) accused the Department of Education of using the funding restrictions to exert unfair influence over state education practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a sad state of affairs that students and parents are left with no option other than to opt out because the White House isn’t listening to their concerns,\u201d Hultgren wrote in the Chicago Tribune<\/em> last March.<\/p>\n

CPS did not respond to requests for comment on the anti-testing movement.<\/p>\n

Creswell and other More Than a Score leaders say they have had no luck in trying to contact CPS officials since the beginning of the state budget impasse in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lack of a state budget means that the state is still not entirely sure what they\u2019re going to pay for,\u201d Creswell said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they have answers and there\u2019s a lot of questions there. There\u2019s an atmosphere of perpetual chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: CPS students made up approximately 20,000 of the students who opted-out of testing last year. (Alberto G.\/Flickr<\/a>)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Morgan Gilbard\u00a0 Anti-testing advocates worry that the opt-out movement will take a backseat this year as Chicago Public Schools and the state drown in a sea of other problems. Concern over budget cuts and teacher union negotiations threaten to overshadow a movement that led to 20,000 Chicago students opting out of standardized tests last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193,"featured_media":31619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,585],"tags":[1454,270,371],"class_list":["post-29690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-affairs","category-winter-2016","tag-budget-impasse","tag-chicago-public-schools","tag-education"],"yoast_head":"\nAnti-testing movement plans 2016 strategy as education cuts take center stage - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/anti-testing-movement-plans-2016-strategy-as-education-cuts-take-center-stage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anti-testing movement plans 2016 strategy as education cuts take center stage - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Morgan Gilbard\u00a0 Anti-testing advocates worry that the opt-out movement will take a backseat this year as Chicago Public Schools and the state drown in a sea of other problems. 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