Parent tells why she is opting-out her son with brain damage from testing.

[madfloridian]

She shouldn't even have to take a step like this. She should not have to explain that while her son is recuperating from serious brain surgery, he learns in a different manner. She should not have to feel that opting out her son will hurt the school's grade just as if she did not do so.

It should be a matter of common sense, that a child with severe brain damage should not be required to take a test with such high stakes. A parent should not be put in such a position. The education powers that be should be intelligent and knowledgeable enough to know better.

Opting Out: Why My Son Will Never Take State Tests

Ian does not learn the way other children learn. When he was four years old, we discovered Ian had a cancerous brain tumor. He had it surgically removed, which was followed by radiation and chemotherapy.

The treatments were successful, but it came at a price: A void was left where the tumor was, and brain cells were damaged from the treatments. His brain has had to make new neurological connections. I am confident that Ian's brain will eventually make those connections and learning new things will become easier for him, but it will take time.

She points out that he is "functioning well physically, visually, and verbally", but the biggest problem is his memory.

She makes this very valid point.

I know this about him. His teachers know this about him. If the government wants to know this about him, they could immediately get the information by asking his school; they don't need to collect data on him in the spring, just so they can share their evaluation of him in the fall.

....This time could be spent on teaching children to think for themselves instead of how to "perform" properly for the government and the big businesses making these tests. The actual time spent taking the tests does the same thing. If people are wondering why our students are falling behind other countries, they need to look no further than the hours spent every year on preparing and testing our students for these standardized tests.

[catrose]

1. I had a music student who was severely injured in a car crash

When she resumed her lessons, she could no longer remember any of the works she had memorized or memorized new ones. After having been out of school for months, the school gave her an extra few weeks at the end of term to make up all her work. Having your brain on the outside of your head and being thought dead were not sufficient excuses to stop the wheel of testing. She eventually recovered to a great degree, but the key word is "eventually." I did think that the school could have had some mercy.

[madfloridian]

2. I know. You would think caring and mercy would come first with such students.

But not anymore. It's sad. We were always expected to put the interests of the students first, emphasize their strengths, help them through their weaknesses.

Now it seems like those in charge are just out to get them.

[catrose]

3. Silly me. That was my idea of teaching.

I tried to be that teacher, and I expected it from my son's teachers.

Sigh. Oh, the disappointments.

[madfloridian]

4. "a grade on a standardized test taken on a single day of a child’s life."

4 reasons parents want to opt kids out of standardized tests (It's not just about Common Core)

Video included, long article. But this is the core of it.

I reject the notion that we decide our educational fate by comparing a grade on a standardized test taken on a single day of a child’s life.

A last kick before it dies.

[Jamastiene]

5. Those tests seem ridiculous to me.

They are the antithesis of learning. Teachers have to spend a bunch of time teaching the stupid tests at the expense of a real education.

[madfloridian]

6. You are right.