Georgia parents want to spurn standardized tests

For public school students, springtime means standardized tests, which can mean chronic worry and sweaty palms. Trouble sleeping and stomach aches. Tears of frustration.

A small but increasingly vocal group of parents in Georgia are trying to say no to those high-stakes tests, urging state leaders to let their children “opt out” of them without any penalty.

They join a growing movement nationwide protesting standardized tests, which they argue hold too much importance in measuring a student’s academic achievement and teacher performance.

Georgia education leaders acknowledge that students are being overly tested, and plan to revise the testing regimen. But dropping those tests entirely isn’t feasible, they say.

“It’s very important we know how we’re doing,” the person in charge of testing in Georgia says. “Unfortunately while not a perfect measure, they are the best measures we have to let us gauge how students are progressing.”

We tell you about the issue in Thursday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Read it on MyAJC.Com