Thursday, April 10, 2014

Want To Opt Your Child Out Of AIMS Testing? Sorry, Can't Be Done.

Posted By on Thu, Apr 10, 2014 at 5:30 PM

AIMS testing is a requirement for every child in grades 3 though 8. Parents can't opt their children out of the tests, except through one maneuver which jeopardizes their children's education. But some local parents, fed up with the high stakes testing regimen and upset with their lack of choice in the matter, are joining the national Opt Out movement.

In a segment of this month's Access Tucson show, "Education: The Rest of the Story," Ann-Eve Pedersen and I go over the statewide AIMS mandate and the portions of the Arizona Revised Statute (A.R.S) that the Dept. of Ed. and the Attorney General use to defend the policy. In my un-legally-trained reading of the passages, their interpretation is a bit of a stretch.

The Tucson Weekly is working on a larger piece on the national and local Opt Out movement. Meanwhile, this video gives you the basics. And in case you want to read the relevant passages of the statute, here are links to A.R.S. 15-741 and A.R.S. 15-102.

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