It is often said that surmounting challenges is an obligatory component of life, and no matter how unjust circumstances may appear to an individual, he/she is ultimately forced to overcome and try his/her hardest. However, recent events show high school students, it may not always be true.
Since 1998, every public school in California has been required to administer an assessment known as Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR). Not only did these tests evaluate students’ required knowledge, but they also served as a method to rank schools according to their assessment results. However, starting the 2014-2015 school year, the CSTs (the STAR’s subsidiary test) were scrapped in favor of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) tests, which are required to be taken by eleventh graders as well as primary school students. Although mainly identical, the biggest difference was the ease of opting out of the test. In years prior, parents who opposed their child taking the test were forced to encounter struggles to have their child exempted, as there was no “legal” way to do it.
Due to the rarity of students opting out of the test, nobody expected the severe drop out rate from the SBAC. What had once been a tumultuous approach became a mere signature from a parent. This issue did not stem from lenient policies, but instead it indirectly began from movements in the East Coast and spread to other United States areas. According to Michelle Malkin’s January 2015 National Review article, “In New Jersey, the parental opt-out movement is ‘exploding’… More families, administrators, and teachers…pressured the states to withdraw.” And the pressure was undeniably successful, seeing that states such as South Carolina, Alabama, Kansas, Alaska, Utah and Iowa have all withdrawn from the SBAC and PARCC tests (SBAC equivalent assessments in some states).
States that do not officially withdraw are prone to suffer consequences as well. An article by Elizabeth Wiley of KING 5 News said “[In Seattle], not a single eleventh grade student showed up to take the SBAC test at Nathan Hale High School this week.” Wiley later reported a statement the Seattle State Superintendent had given, saying that without a 95% participation rate on the tests, state funds to the school could be cut, and Seattle would be considered a “high risk” state in education. Palos Verdes, while not suffering to the same extent, is having severe problems of its own. Several weeks before administering the SBAC, notices were put in PVPUSD high school English classes titled “Restore PV Education”. It listed seven reasons why students should not subject themselves to the test, including “psychological profiling” and “high costs”. On its backside was the official opt-out form, giving students and parents an effortless method to be notified of the assessment’s issues and to refrain students from taking it.
At Palos Verdes High School, the situation with the SBAC testing has received much attention. Dr. Park, principal of PVHS, reported the opt-out rate to be 60%. It has become a question as to why over half the junior class opted out: is the issue pressure from neighboring states, or are the students solely stressed out so close to AP exams? Junior Sea King Robert Franklin said, “I did not take the SBAC, because I had already been studying for the ACT. I did not need another long, tedious test hanging over my head.” This is just one example of the infamous stressful junior year. Another, such as Joey Rich, even understood the consequences yet still decided to not take it. He said, “While I know it is important to the school’s reputation, I opted out, because I have too many other tests to study for and projects to manage at the moment. In addition, I would not want to be fatigued of testing as soon as the AP exams begin.”
However, other students disagree with these responses, explaining how the tests are a necessary evil for the school’s reputation. Junior Ryan Moore said, “Some of my teachers were offering extra credit. So even though many other tests like finals are coming up soon, I will be able to have some of the pressure off of my back.” Another junior, Alexandra Forsey said, “I decided not to opt-out of the SBAC, because I feel that as students, we owe it to our teachers and staff to represent our school well.” Students who decided to take the test agree that in some ways, the tests are releasing pressure from the students, and even if they do not, they should give back to their school.
Regardless of the saying that difficulties are inevitable, this SBAC fiasco has undoubtedly shown high school students that these difficult situations can be simply avoided. It is debatable whether dodging this exam is acceptable, but many students seem to agree that it is. The consequences arising from these events are yet to be seen, but the SBAC’s important is parallel to that of the STAR, schools with extreme opt-out rates will rapidly lose their reputations until there is no possibility of returning to their original glory. Yet, it is still the individual’s job to realize the faults in attempting to skip life’s difficulties when they are generally known to be obligatory.