Snohomish could face penalties over test protests

More than 550 students in the Snohomish School District
have refused to take the Measurement of Student Progress
test. That’s about 12 percent of the kids between third
and eighth grade who are supposed to take it.

Kristin Foley with the district’s communications office
tells 97.3 KIRO FM, they are about halfway through the
testing period. There could still be more students who
choose not to test in the next few weeks.

The
Everett
Herald reports parents of those children are trying to
send a message to the state that the tests cost too much.
They are also calling this a protest against school budget
cuts.

Since kids that do not take the test get a zero score,
that will drag down the district’s performance as a whole.
That could mean a designation of failing to make “adequate
yearly progress.”

The district says a failing grade would not take any
federal dollars away from schools, but it would force them
into tighter restrictions on how those dollars can be
spent.

Nathan Olsen, with the Office of the Superintendent of
Public Instruction for Washington State, says if the non-
testing trend continues, the schools could be required to
spend 20 percent of their Title One funding on
“supplemental education services.” That is, services for
lower income students and others who would seem to be at
risk for under-performing.

The district says they support a parent’s right to have
their child sit out. Foley says they are providing other
learning opportunities for those students who are not
taking the test.