Washington state high school junior class boycotts Common Core standards testing.

By Rob Janicki
Just when you think the youth of America is going down the toilet and taking America with it, comes this rather uplifting news.

It seems the Junior Class at Seattle's Nathan Hale High School isn't exactly thrilled with the latest state testing, called Smarter Balanced, and administered to determine if student academic achievement has met the national Common Core standards.  Parents, teachers and administrators in some numbers are also not inclined to accept the Common Core standards and the testing related to these standards.

Not a single junior at Seattle’s Nathan Hale High showed up to take new state tests in reading and math this week, a school-district spokeswoman said Thursday.

Testing started Tuesday at the school, where a group of teachers, administrators, parents and students had earlier agreed to boycott the exams, called Smarter Balanced, which are replacing Washington’s old statewide tests.

Under pressure from the district’s top administrators, the school’s leaders capitulated, sending an email to families saying they would give the test after all.

But the 280 juniors — who don’t need to pass the Smarter Balanced exam to graduate from high school — opted out anyway.

As a retired high school teacher, I would oppose the testing based upon any national standards set by the U.S. Department of Education, which I believe should either be abolished, or, at the very least, significantly reduced in scope and authority over local schools and school districts.  Allowing the federal government to set standards allows bureaucrats to establish a "group think" outcome.  Such setting of standards should reside within the local school districts in conjunction with their state board of education and there is a good reason for this.

Local schools, school boards and communities of students and parents are the best institutions for structuring the educational framework that best meets and suits the needs of the students and the community they reside in.  American public education was created and based upon local control.  It was never envisioned that the federal government would regulate education across all of America.  The thought that far off Washington, D.C. and the bureaucrats of DoE are better suited to determine what is best for all America is simply a subterfuge to establish a "group think" along the political lines and ideology of the liberal left, which has infiltrated every federal agency. 

More details of this protest can be found at the Seattle Times.