A parent objects to Connecticut’s plan to test children in kindergarten, first and second grades and asks for your help:
Does anyone have any info on “opt out” procedures in CT? My daughter will not be subjected to this destructive nonsense during these crucial, early years.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I do not know the answer to that question. I do not know what this test will look like or in which school year we will need to begin administering it. Glad to know that a large part of my evaluation as a teacher will be based on it! It would be great if parents began an opt out movement here in Connecticut. As I teacher I can’t exactly promote this, but maybe parents can.
As a teacher, I must be careful about promoting it, but as a parent I am happy to become a vociferous gadfly in my daughter’s school district.
I know that the CAPT test for tenth graders is a graduation requirement, so there is probably no opting out of that one.
Story from 2011 about a parent opting out. Hope this helps.
http://www.realhartford.org/2011/08/31/back-to-school-guide-reclaiming-your-childs-education-12/
http://www.realhartford.org/2011/08/31/back-to-school-guide-reclaiming-your-childs-education-22/
There has to be some sort of opt out. I am not a lawyer, but if I am not mistaken, the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that parents are in charge of their child’s education, so they have to allow some sort of opt out process.
Read this case:
In March of 2011, the mother of a straight-A Hartford student called up the principal to say that her daughter, Caridad¹, “will not be taking the test.”
The test, in this case, happened to be the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT), which is administered to all students in grades 3-8, every year. About one week is dedicated to the actual test (seven hours in all), though the level of preparation varies from school-to-school, with some assigning test prep homework all year round. Caridad, who was in the seventh grade when she opted out, attends one of the schools that puts less emphasis than others on the standardized state tests.
http://www.realhartford.org/2011/08/31/back-to-school-guide-reclaiming-your-childs-education-12/
I’d say look at Supreme Court cases that clearly rule that the Parent has the authority and is the primary educator of their child.
I’m amazed that any parent allows their child to sit for a state standardized test.
If my kids were in a public school, there is NO way my kids would ever sit for that exam.
Who’s the parent?? The STATE or the parents??
Maybe I can get some momentum going in my town. The school is small, the parents are largely involved, and I read somewhere that the tests are invalid if about 6% opt out…
When the time comes, I will make it very clear that the school and its staff are excellent, and it is the standardized testing per se that I reject.
The idea of a formal, norm referenced, standardized, paper and pencil test for kindergarteners especially is very scary. They vary so much in what they can do from day to day. Second graders might be able to handle a short one if it is not emphasized and is presented as an “activity” or “lesson”rather than a test. Younger than that, no! Louisiana uses something called Dibbles at that age but I think it is individual and more of a test to tell the teacher where the problems are. But kindergarten? A lot of the younger ones have trouble just holding a pencil. If there is not a movement against this there should be. Here is a rather awkward justification against early testing. When a child is in preschool special education, which can start at age 3, his or her disability is not given a specific name until the age of 8—-about 3rd grade, because even special ed does not know how the child is going to turn out. The only ones who get labeled are those whose disability is very obvious like blindness, deafness, or profound retardation (which still might change to severe or even moderate in the right circumstances) although they might be noted as having a particular syndrome if it is known. Until then they are called “Preschool Non-categorical”.
They are going to have a terrible time getting the little ones to color in the bubbles properly. :0)
http://www.fairtest.org/get-involved/opting-out
An online resource to support of parents wishing to Opt Out of standardized testing. called Fair Test
Contact Robert Schaeffer at (239) 395-6773 or FairTest at (617) 477-9792