Large numbers of students are opting out of tests their parents consider improper, excessive, or even damaging. In one California high school, a majority of juniors opted out of a Common Core test, and the principal planned to punish students by banning them from using the school’s parking lot and from taking part in senior class activities. Principal C.J. Foss of Calabasas High School in Los Angeles County announced that certain privileges would be withheld from students who skip the controversial test. Since state law allows students to opt out of the test, an education advocacy group charges that Foss was punishing students for exercising their rights. Since 75 percent of the class opted out of the test, the backlash for the principal’s actions became so strong that the principal reversed her policy. California is not the only state where common core tests have become so controversial and not the only time where a school punished students for opting out of Common Core tests. A nine-year-old student in New Jersey was barred from attending an end-of-year school event, because she opted-out of the Common Core test. Michele Thornton, the mother of the girl, said, “They weren’t sure where they were going to put my daughter, so I told them that I would just pick her up early from school. When I went in to pick her up there were two gaming trucks, an outdoor play area, cupcakes, juice boxes, and buckets full of prizes for the kids.” Mrs. Thornton’s child should not have been barred from attending this party with all of her friends simply because she exercised her right under state law and with her parents’ permission, to opt out of the Common Core tests. Ask your school board candidates to take our Eagle Forum pledge to opt all students out of Common Core. This article originally appeared on Eagle Forum.
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