Every one of the students in the senior class at Mancos High School opted not to take a state-mandated test last week.
The students opted out, with either their parent’s permission or if they were over 18 years old, decided on their own.
“That’s outstanding,” said Mancos School District Superintendent Brian Hanson. “I will be honest with you, they are not alone.”
And the Mancos School District is not alone, students across Colorado are opting out of the state-mandated Colorado Measures of Academic Success, Science and Social Studies test, referred to as CMAS.
“Our kids have finally decided that enough is enough,” Hanson said.
Parents of hundreds of high school seniors in Boulder County, Douglas County, Montrose County and elsewhere are pulling their children out of new state science and social studies tests this month in an escalating battle over Colorado’s battery of standardized tests.
The parental refusals — or “opt outs” — are concentrated in a few of the states’s highest-performing and most affluent school districts.
At nine Douglas County high schools, nearly 1,900 seniors – or half – didn’t take the tests, according to preliminary data from the district.
In the Boulder Valley School District, officials projected at least 1,200 refusals at three high schools.
In Mancos, all 17 of the high school seniors opted out.
Hanson said the students have had a far reach in social media and elsewhere. In fact, the students have been asked to present at the Colorado Association of School Board’s conference early next month.
Hanson emphasized that students aren’t against teachers’ tests, just the state’s standardized tests.
“It is the standardized testing movement that has got out of control,” Hanson said. “There has got to be a better way to do it.”
“We’ve reached the breaking point,” he added. “People don’t want to teach any more. We are pushing back.”
Taryn Gordanier, a junior at the Mancos High School, is taking part in a local campaign to end to the testing.
“Testing is a loss to valuable instructional time,” she said. “We feel these tests are put before our education, and we are not No. 2 – we are No.1.”
Districts and schools face consequences if their participation on state-mandated tests dips below 95 percent. For districts, it could mean a lowering of their accreditation level and other sanctions, and for schools it eventually may mean adopting more stringent plans requiring additional steps to meet state requirements.