{"id":113384,"date":"2015-04-08T15:22:56","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T21:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-senate-pushes-opt-out-bill-toward-vote\/"},"modified":"2015-04-08T15:22:56","modified_gmt":"2015-04-08T21:22:56","slug":"colorado-senate-pushes-opt-out-bill-toward-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-senate-pushes-opt-out-bill-toward-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Senate pushes opt-out bill toward vote"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"AP
AP Photo\/Detroit Free Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

DENVER \u2013 The Colorado Senate On Monday gave initial approval to a measure that would allow parents to opt their children out of student assessments without the risk of facing penalties.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 223 could receive a final vote in the Senate midweek before heading to the House.<\/p>\n

The bill advanced Monday ahead of a hearing on legislation that aims to reduce student testing in the state. House Bill 1323 is scheduled for a hearing at 1:30 p.m. before the House Education Committee.<\/p>\n

The opt-out measure would require school districts to allow a parent to excuse their child from a standardized assessment without facing penalties or repercussions from the state or school district.<\/p>\n

Parents raised concerns over districts threatening them and their children with financial penalties, in-school suspension and prohibiting students from attending class parties, among other complaints.<\/p>\n

The issue has brought Republicans and Democrats together, with leadership on both sides of the aisle supporting the proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a protest bill, this is not an encouragement to have more people opt out, this is not undermining our statewide assessment system,\u201d said Sen. Chris Holbert, R-Parker, a co-sponsor of the legislation. \u201cIf we have a problem with high percentages of students and parents saying \u2018no,\u2019 then we have an opportunity as a Legislature and our 178 school districts to do something entirely within our power to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue has been of particular interest in Southwest Colorado, where 93 percent of parents with students at Mancos High School signed a form opting them out of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, test.<\/p>\n

Assessments such as PARCC would qualify, which falls under federal Common Core standards.<\/p>\n

But critics of the effort say it erodes education reforms, largely implemented by Senate Bill 191 in 2010, including tying teacher evaluations to student growth and assessments.<\/p>\n

The Senate quickly passed an amendment Monday that would clarify that opting out does not apply to local tests. But opponents remain worried.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not governing, this is grandstanding,\u201d said Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver, who spearheaded the SB 191 effort five years ago. \u201cThere\u2019s no actual system to replace the problem you\u2019re going to create.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opt-out measure serves as a backdrop to the larger conversation over testing as a whole. Bipartisan HB 1323 \u2013 scheduled for a hearing Monday afternoon \u2013 would reduce testing and related burdens across the board by:<\/p>\n

Eliminating all state-mandated tests in 12th grade.<\/p>\n

Eliminating state-mandated tests in 11th grade except for the ACT.<\/p>\n

Making 9th grade English Language Arts (ELA) and math tests a local decision.<\/p>\n

Administering the ELA and math assessments in 10th grade.<\/p>\n

Streamlining literacy READ Act assessments.<\/p>\n

Providing a paper-and-pencil option.<\/p>\n

Providing more information to parents.<\/p>\n

Reducing the number of School Readiness Assessments to one per year.<\/p>\n

And excusing non-English-proficient students who have been in a Colorado school less than one year from ELA assessments.<\/p>\n

The bill comes as a second attempt after the Legislature stalled on Senate Bill 215, which also aimed to reduce testing. That bill was opposed by a diverse group of stakeholders, including teachers, who asked the Legislature to do more.<\/p>\n

There is more support for HB 1323, though stakeholders have asked for changes to the legislation, which could come Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Initial approval given to student-testing choice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6363],"tags":[188,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-113384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ds-news","tag-dolores-star","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113384"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=113384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}