High School Students Organize “Opt Out” Action in Colorado

by Steve Peha

Thousands of Colorado high school students mounted a strong, successful, and well articulated campaign to opt out of a particular state test. John Merrow has excellent coverage of this that I think is well worth reading. The crux of the students’ argument was that the test in question was a “no stakes” test for them personally. Therefore, opting out of taking it would be of no consequence. But when kids opt out of testing, especially at the high school level, there is a consequence: states lose important information that informs their ability to improve education for other students. One area where we need to improve high school is college-readiness. Currently, far too many kids going to college rack up extra debt and extra time taking remedial courses. Correlating the performance of high school students with their performance at college might help us improve this situation. An article in the Denver Post offers a counter-argument to the one put forth by the students: “It's important to take a step back and understand why some of these standards [and tests] came to be in the first place. It's because Colorado students were having to take too many remedial classes when they got to college.”