Should Georgia parents decide whether or how kids take state exams?

A bill that passed the Georgia House encourages school systems, in the midst of moving all state testing online, to give students the option of still taking exams with pencil and paper. And the bill also eases the process of opting out of state tests altogether. (AJC File Photo.)

A bill that passed the Georgia House encourages school systems, in the midst of moving all state testing online, to give students the option of still taking exams with pencil and paper. And the bill also eases the process of opting out of state tests altogether. (AJC File Photo.)

Passed by the Georgia House Friday, House Bill 425 seems straightforward, but it could create complex problems for school districts with its opt-out protections and its push for pencil and paper testing alternatives.

The bill encourages local school systems to give students the option of taking online assessments with a paper and pencil instead. The state of Georgia is in the process of moving all students to online assessments. However, some parents contend their young children perform better with pencil and paper than with keyboards, and they want a choice. Now, many districts limit that option to students with a proven disability.

The bill also instructs Superintendent Richard Woods to identify policies for local school systems to adopt when deciding how students opting out of Georgia exams will be supervised and, what, if any, alternative to the exams will be provided to them during the test administration. The bill states that the guidelines “shall” prohibit a school system from “taking punitive action against a student, including, but not limited to, the adoption of sit and stare policies, in response to a student’s refusal to participate in a federal, state, or locally mandated standardized assessment.” The bill defines “sit and stare” as any policy that requires students sitting out a test “to remain with their class in the test room or in another location without any alternate instructional activity.”

To read why these changes could create challenges for teachers and districts, go the AJC Get Schooled blog