The state board committee met with Senator Aaron Osmond on Thursday evening in Salt Lake City to discuss students opting out of state-mandated tests.
In the meeting they discussed Osmond’s senate bill 204, which outlines parental rights in public education.
Senate bill 204 states: “at the request of a student’s parent or guardian, a Local Education Agency shall excuse a student from taking an assessment that is federally mandated, is mandated by the state under this title; or requires the use of a state assessment system; or software that is provided or paid by the state.”
State board and committee member Linda Hansen said there were two big changes made to the bill.
“Before, they could just opt out of summative stage but now they can opt out of formative, interim and summative stage,” Hansen said.
The summative test, Hansen references, is the Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence test taken at the very end of the year. The interim test is an optional SAGE test, but given in the middle of the year, if the school district decides to administer the test. Formative testing is any kind of test.
If a teacher asks a student a question in class, it would be an example of formative testing, Hansen said.
Another change that was made allows parents to opt out with a 24-hour notice. Before the parent had to give a five day notice.
“I think that parents need to understand that it is an advantage to them to find out how their children are doing,” Hansen said. “If they opt out, the parents don’t know how their children are doing.”
The school board committee has the ability to look at the senate bills and decide how they are going to implement it in the district.
“All that they did with their rule about my bill was to give guidance to the district about what they need to do, how to implement it and what the actual steps for opting out will be,” Osmond said.
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