8,104 Wisconsin students opted out of Smarter Balanced this school year including 7% of Madison elementary and middle schoolers. While these are not close to the numbers that say New York recorded it is a noticeable uptick from last year. The Madison State Journal reports:
About 7 percent of elementary and middle school students in Madison and 2 percent of public school students statewide this spring opted out of taking a new test aligned to the Common Core academic standards — up from one-tenth of 1 percent of students who opted out of the state test last year.
More than 700 students in the Madison School District opted out, part of the 8,104 public school students who opted out statewide, a substantial increase from the 87 and 583 students, respectively, who opted out last year, state and school district data show….
…The Madison School District says 737 students opted out of taking the English and math tests this spring, which represents a surge from recent years. Just five years ago, 17 Madison students opted out of state tests. For other tests given this school year, 1 percent of students opted out of taking them, according to a district report.
The increase comes as lawmakers move to get rid of the Badger Exam, Wisconsin’s version of the Smarter Balanced exam that was developed using questions from a consortium of states aligned to the controversial Common Core academic standards that state Superintendent Tony Evers adopted in 2010.
The rollout of the test in Wisconsin schools this spring included several delays, and technical glitches forced schools to use a scaled-back exam that did not adapt to students’ abilities as intended.