9/14/04 -- School leaders under increasing pressure to raise test scores often are finding that some students, particularly in the upper grades, are deliberately blowing off the tests or opting out.
School officials say it's hard to get students motivated to take the tests seriously when the results don't affect their grades -- even though schools, teachers, and district administrators are held accountable.
In some cases, the actions of a few students to refuse to participate or underperform on these tests could mean their school fails to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) under No Child Left Behind.
In Albuquerque, N.M., for example, many students who took a new state assessment filled out their answer sheets in Christmas trees, hearts, and other designs and rushed to see who could finish first.
"I didn't care," Robert Stanton, a student at Sandia High School, told the Albuquerque Journal. "They told us it wouldn't count on our record, and I was tired. It was a waste of time."
That kind of attitude contributed to only half of the state's 11th graders reaching the proficient level in math and reading. The results carry harsh consequences for schools, as they are used to determine whether schools make AYP.
In most cases where students refuse to take tests or do poorly on purpose, it's because "they are fed up with testing and they know the tests won't affect their grades," says Monty Neill, executive director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest).
"We have no evidence this is common or done on a large scale," Neil says, although, "there has been at times organized resistance at the school level."
In recent years, there have been organized student boycotts of the Massachusetts state assessment before passage of that test became a graduation requirement, and in California, students have organized efforts to opt out of the state tests.
In the Poudre school district in Fort Collins, Colo., growing numbers of students have been opting out of state tests, although it's not part of an organized effort. The number of students whose parents signed opt-out forms rose from 119 in 2003 to 196 in 2004, a 65 percent increase, says Jed Bowman, director of student data and assessment.
A cursory examination of 30 students who opted out revealed that 18 of them would have scored at the proficient level under the state's criteria for NCLB.
Students are not penalized for opting out or having a low score. But when students don't take the tests, teachers can't accurately assess their learning, Bowman says.
Under NCLB, a school fails to make AYP if less than 95 percent of students take the test. According to Bowman, Colorado's plan for implementing NCLB does not count students who opt out. But there are "severe consequences" for schools under the state assessment system, he says. Each student who drops out reduces a school's rating on Colorado's state report card.
"I'm sure the large number of opt outs will have an impact on this, but we won't know until the state report cards come out in December," Bowman says. Schools with low ratings for three years can be taken over by the state and converted to charter schools.
Bowman doesn't know why so many more students are opting out, but notes that a newspaper article just before the tests were given advising students of their right to opt out might have been a contributing factor.
"Standardized testing is coming under heavy scrutiny," he says, and "politicization is causing assessment to get a bad rap."
So far, few districts have taken any action to get test-takers more motivated, although some do put test results on transcripts, and pep rallies are common before testing at elementary schools.
Some state officials have suggested that state universities look at test scores, and the Arizona Board of Regents in August authorized the state's three public universities to award scholarships to students with high scores on state assessments.
One school board that did take action to improve students' motivation is the Modesto City Schools in California, but that plan was put on hold following a legal challenge.
The district has seen flat scores on the state assessment for the past four or five years, particularly at the 9-12 level. To address that issue, Superintendent Jim Enochs came up with plan to penalize students in rigorous programs -- college preparatory, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate programs -- who score low on the tests by barring them from advanced courses the following year.
For example, if an AP student scores below the basic level in algebra, he or she wouldn't be allowed to take AP geometry the next year.
The district had tried awards for attendance and pizza parties, but that wasn't having much effect, says David Cooper, the district's director of secondary education.
When school officials asked students in advanced programs why they scored so low on an exam, the response was "I didn't care" or "I didn't try," Cooper says. "Many just filled in their answer sheet with all A's or B's or in an a-b-a-b pattern. Obviously they weren't trying."
Students don't need to do well on the tests because there is no effect on their grades or their ability to graduate or get into college.
The school board approved the plan in March but made some modifications, including waivers for students who score within 6 points of the cut-off.
A little over 400 students were affected, Cooper says.
The plan did not take effect, however, because a San Francisco-based law firm, Public Advocates Inc., filed a suit in federal court Aug. 25 on behalf of six students.
The group complained that the plan would hurt students' college prospects, that the district didn't solicit student and parent input when it enacted the plan, and that it didn't give students enough notice before implementing it. The tests were given in May.
Just before a judge was to hear the case in August, the law firm dropped the suit, and the district agreed to suspend the program and "make a good faith effort to develop a plan amenable to both sides."
Despite having to suspend the program, Cooper says, the test results show the plan was effective. There was a huge increase in the number of student test scores at the advanced and proficient levels.