With the help of anti-testing groups, schools across the country continue to push back against the Common Core standards by opting out of testing.

In Florida, “two-dozen groups have been formed at the district level to help parents learn the procedure for opting their students out of the tests,” said an article on wlrn.org.

“By following a specific procedure [which may vary depending on the district], the student’s test is invalidated,” the article said. “The result is that the student doesn’t fail, school grades and teacher pay aren’t impacted, and the district is forced to find an alternative means of assessing what the student has learned.”

Cindy Hamilton, co-founder of Opt Out Orlando, said that the organization is encouraging parents to opt out of “tests with high stakes, punitive consequences.”

“These are tests that have too much power in regards to what happens to the student if they don’t do well on the test,” Hamilton said. “They are tests that are not formative. They are tests that measure teachers, and not students, and they are not useful in the education of our children.”

Hamilton said she is concerned that “students’ futures are being determined by one test,” the article said.

“Kids should be assessed using multiple measures that include with equal weight our teacher-developed and delivered assessment,” said Hamilton. “Our testing system has ceased to be about evaluating a student, and it’s all about comparing our students to other students across the country and across the world.”

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Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor