A bill that would allow parents to opt-out of statewide assessment tests, for their kids, won approval in the Arizona House. It will allow a parent to submit a written request to let their child meet alternate graduation standards. Gilbert Republican Rep. Eddie Farnsworth admitted to being a bit reluctant, but still voted “yes."
“In my opinion, if we’re going to do away with the need for assessments, than we do away with assessments but I think that is a little more intellectually honest to the parents, if you will,” Farnsworth said.
Rep. Randall Friese, a Tucson Democrat, voted against the measure, arguing for a better method of assessing students, like testing a random sample.
“When we test every single child, we cannot allow the introduction of systematic error, because mathematically you cannot correct for that and that makes, again, our conclusions, completely, the data, completely indecipherable and our conclusions invalid,” Friese said.
While the bill allows for students to be held out of statewide assessment tests, it does not allow holding them out of the new statewide civics test. The measure now goes to the Arizona Senate.