More Maine parents are opting out of educational testing for their children. At what risk?

LEWISTON — On a Monday morning in March, Farwell Elementary School fifth-graders filed into the library and sat at computers.

It was their fourth morning of taking the Maine Educational Assessment, one of three standardized tests they’ll take this year. They’ve already taken the Northwest Evaluation Association test and the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

“Thank you for your patience, boys and girls. You may start your test,” one teacher announced. Students put on their headphones and got to work.

On the other side of the library, Dominique Richard and another 10 students weren’t taking the test. 

More parents are choosing to opt out of standardized testing of their children. It’s happening across the country.

In Danielle Bilodeau’s fifth-grade class at Farwell in Lewiston, 11 of her 21 students opted out. Last year, only two Farwell parents opted out, Principal Althea Walker said. This year, it’s 41.

Across Lewiston, the number of students opting out of tests has jumped from only a few last year to 250 this year, about 10 percent of students.

In Auburn, only a handful of elementary students have opted out. But among high school juniors, 41 percent, or 102, did not take the test.

“I’m disappointed,” Superintendent Katy Grondin. “This will skew our overall data.” Word spread that opting out was possible. “One person does it; it snowballs.”

More than half of the 150 juniors at Camden Hills Regional High School opted out. Brunswick Superintendent Paul Perzanoski said he didn’t yet have numbers for this year, but last year “we were the opt-out capital.”

Opting out is being encouraged by the union that represents Maine teachers, the Maine Education Association. “The over use of high-stakes testing to evaluate both our students and our teachers does nothing to help create a positive learning environment,” said MEA President Lois Kilby-Chesley.

The level of opting out is making administrators uneasy.

If the number of students taking the MEA falls below 95 percent, schools could lose federal money, Lewiston Superintendent Bill Webster said. With Lewiston’s opt-out percentage at 10 percent, “We’re playing with fire here.”

Parents: Test ‘confusing and frustrating’

“All that’s bogus,” said Lewiston parent Karen McClure-Richard. “It’s an empty threat to make parents feel guilty.”

Richard is leading the local movement and administers the “Opt Out Lewiston” Facebook page.

She’s opted out both of her children, her son at Farwell and her daughter at Lewiston Middle School.

“Both my kids are high-functioning students,” she said. One of the standardized tests, the NWEA, measures growth. When her daughter took the test in the sixth grade, it showed she wasn’t meeting growth goals, even though she was scoring beyond her level.

“She felt stupid,” McClure-Richard said. Her teachers told her not to worry about it, “but she felt like a failure. That’s not OK with me.”

McClure-Richard has lobbied at the State House for legislation that would make it clearer that parents, teachers and schools can’t be penalized when students do not take standardized tests.

School districts, including Lewiston, “need to be more transparent to make their own choice,” McClure-Richard said. “I’ve been at this for two years.”

Jamie Watson, a teacher working in South Portland, is another Lewiston parent opting out. Her third-grade daughter, Ansley, isn’t taking the MEA.

“The main reason is I trust her teachers,” Watson said. “We have nothing but great experience at Farwell. They see her growth every single day.” When she meets with teachers, “not once have we referenced any standardized testing. It’s always what concepts is she getting in class. What can she work on at home.”

Watson said she has no concerns about her daughter’s academic growth, but “I do have concerns about her taking a test where she does not have the computer skills she needs to take it.”

Watson researched the MEA, which is new this year. She took the third-grade sample test and found it “confusing and frustrating. I quit halfway through because I was so frustrated. I realized this was something I didn’t want my daughter to do.”

Watson said she found the questions could have several different answers that could be right. 

Watson also doesn’t approve of the loss of classroom time to practice taking the test on the computer. Students are given the time they need to take the test, which can be between seven and a half and 10 hours, plus time to learn how to use the tools for taking the test on the computer. “It’s too much time from class.”

If a student is already struggling in reading and math, “how much effort would they put into the task?”

Teachers: ‘There’s a disconnect’

A group of Lewiston teachers meeting with Acting Maine Education Commissioner Tom Desjardin last Thursday complained about over testing and the MEA. “It’s a bad test,” said Montello teacher Emily Talmage.

The school year is loaded with assessments, teachers said. Students are “tested to death.” Too much time is spent teaching the test rather than teaching what students need, teachers said.

“The tool that politicians are using to decide how kids are doing isn’t a tool we use as professionals,” Talmage said. “There’s a disconnect.”

Teacher Ernie Gagne said he’s relatively new to teaching “and is blown away” by all the testing. “It’s really painful.” After 20 minutes of testing, “some of my students are done” and stop trying, he said.

Lewiston High School teacher Jim Siragusa said all but one student in his advanced English class opted out. In his lower English, class every student is taking the test. With so many opting out, “what kind of data can you get out of schools?” Siragusa asked.

Farwell Principal Walker hears complaints from parents.

They’re saying there’s too much testing, their children have test anxiety.” Parents say teachers are doing a great job, “‘and I don’t need a test to tell me that,’” Walker said.

Some parents have taken the sample MEA test and don’t like what they’ve seen.

“They said, ‘I have a college education and after six questions, I feel stupid,’” Walker said. “’Why would I want my child to do this?’”

An educator for 25 years, Walker said testing has changed. There’s more of it. There’s more stress for teachers and students.

“Students who don’t test well feel terrible about themselves,” she said.

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