Arizona’s new student achievement test is proving controversial, at least in Chandler. That's where hundreds of high school students stayed home to avoid the AzMERIT test.
It's a replacement for the AIMS test, which used to be a requirement for students through their sophomore year of high school. Now, AzMERIT tests juniors, too. And that did not go over well in the Chandler Unified School District.
Dr. Matthew Strom is the district’s executive director of research and assessment. He estimates that at Chandler High School alone, about 400 students, mostly juniors, were absent school the first day of testing.
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"They basically said, ‘I don’t know if the test is of much value to me,'" Strom said. "So finding ways in the future to make the test of value at a state level is probably going to be vastly important to making sure we hit our 95 percent tested, as required by the federal government."
Strom said one way to make the test more relevant is to require it to graduate. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a law in February removing the graduation requirement.
He also said many parents told him privacy concerns prompted them to keep their teens home on testing day.
"Some of the claims are pretty far-fetched, but I understand in this day and age, that privacy is a big issue with moms and dads," he said.
Strom said students provide information like their full name, ethnicity and grade level on the tests.
