Rounds Could Ride Test Opt-Out Movement to Fight Education Dept.

We all know Mike Rounds was lying when he said he would eliminate the Department of Education. But If our freshman Senator wanted to at least give Secretary Arne Duncan and the Department of Education heartburn, he could at least get on board with the growing movement for students to opt-out of Common Core standardized tests.

PBS NewsHour reported last night that the opt-out push is expanding beyond its original arch-conservative base and drawing support from labor advocates who see high-stakes tests misused for teacher evaluation and from supporters of the arts who see elective classes crowded out by Common Core test prep. In some districts, test opt-outs are reaching levels that could trigger federal funding cuts:

JOHN MERROW: I think Secretary Duncan has the tiger by the tail here.

This — he owns this. The — No Child Left Behind was focused on schools. His Race to the Top really does focus on teachers. And — but No Child Left Behind requires 95 percent participation. Is — now, they didn’t reach that Jersey City, New Jersey, which has a lot of poor kids. Is he going to take money away from a poor district?  I don’t think so.

But he actually dodged that question in an interview with my colleague from the Times, saying he was leaving it up to the states, but he was watching. I think, in the future, we’re — this is not going to go away. I think we’re now starting to see legislative action in Florida, Colorado, New Jersey, other places [“What Galvanized Standardized Testing’s Opt-Out Movement,” PBS NewsHour, 2015.05.26].

Secretary Duncan has made some silly comments to defuse test rebellion, including this bit of sheer Newspeak:

As for opt-outs, Duncan said, “states are supposed to work with districts” on meeting a requirement in the NCLB law that 95 percent of students participate in tests. “But if states don’t do whatever then we have an obligation to step in… this is really about not just an assessment…it’s about a civil rights issue” [M. Catherine Evans, “Education Secretary Arne Duncan Issues Threat If Common Core Test-Dodgers Don’t Comply,” American Thinker, 2015.04.29].

Civil rights groups have said that testing reveals achievement gaps and helps direct resources to underserved populations. But that argument sounds a little too esoteric to parents who think their children’s time would be better spent reading a good book or going on a field trip to a museum and who thus refuse to subject their children to government-mandated tests. Opting out of standardized tests is an immediate, personal exercise of civil rights. Contending to the contrary makes Secretary Duncan and his department sound like they are reaching for an argument.

Senator Rounds’s gubernatorial successor Dennis Daugaard sent his people to kill test opt-out legislation and broader anti-Common Core legislation in the South Dakota Legislature this winter. If Team Rounds is serious about degrading the federal Department of Education, they should encourage Governor Daugaard and the rest of the South Dakota Republican Party to support testing opt-outs. Opening the door for more parents to refuse the standardized tests would mean more districts hitting the 5% threshold that would trigger Secretary Duncan’s funding cuts. Pushing Duncan to make more untenable threats lowers Duncan’s and the DOE’s political capital and makes it easier for Rounds to challenge the DOE, the way he said he would during the campaign.

The Senate is working on an education package that includes an amendment respecting parents’ right to opt their kids out of standardized tests. We’ll see if Senator Rounds backs your right to keep your kids out of the meaningless tests that swamping the daily curriculum.