Two speakers will be sharing their insights about high-stakes standardized testing on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in Sandy, Utah. The speakers, Christel Swasey and Heather Gardner, parent activists, will be speaking to a group called Locally Directed Education.
Swasey said she will be focusing on encouraging other parents and students to opt out of the Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence test.
“My number one reason that I am opting my children out of SAGE and encouraging other people also to do the same is the State Longitudinal Database System,” Swasey said.
The SLDS is a program that is linked to a schools’ student information system in order for districts and schools to access assessments, attendance, grades and courses.
She said when children take the SAGE test, their data is submitted into this system for the government to see.
“We are not properly protected in our children’s privacy rights. That is the number one reason I don’t do SAGE,” Swasey said.
She will also speak about how the SAGE test is based from Common Core standards and the adaptive testing of the SAGE test.
Gardner is going to share her story about SAGE testing at the event.
“We basically got kicked out of our charter school for opting out of testing,” Gardner said. “We worked on getting legislation passed so that kids can opt out of any state administered test.”
Gardner is going to focus on parent’s rights in both the state and federal government.
Senator Aaron Osmond recently released a bill regarding parental rights with standardized testing.
“Many parents have expressed concerns to me that first of all, the privacy of the student is not protected,” Osmond said. “Second, is the questions themselves are not consistent with the values in the state of Utah.”
Osmond said he wanted to give concerned parents the option of opting their child out of a state-mandated test.
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