Impacts of Opting Your Student Out

• Information: Valuable information about your student’s K–12 learning progress will be lost. Assessment is an important part of teaching and learning. State tests provide parents and educators with meaningful diagnostic information about a student’s progress in mastering certain content and skills. The redesigned state tests in math and language arts (beginning in 2015) are expected to provide even more useful information. A significant consequence of not taking these tests is the loss of valuable information about your student’s progress, and the lost opportunity to shape future instruction accordingly.
• Preparation: Statewide assessments provide key information about whether your student is on track for graduation, and where he or she may need more help. Additionally, your student may be disadvantaged if his or her first exposure to standardized tests is in high school.
• Graduation: This requirement has been suspended through the 2027-2028 school year.
  In order to graduate from high school in Oregon, your student must meet standards on the statewide assessment or an alternative assessment. Oregon’s graduation requirements include demonstrating proficiency in the essential skills of reading, writing and math. Most students do this by meeting standards on the state test. If they do not take or do not pass the state test, they must demonstrate proficiency either by meeting standards on another approved standardized test, or through work samples, which likely would require taking an additional class in place of another chosen course or elective. 
• College placement: Some colleges and universities now use students’ performance on the OSAS ELA or Math assessment to determine whether a student is ready to take credit-bearing college courses or must take remedial classes that cost the same as college courses but do not count toward a college degree. Students who go to a college using OSAS ELA or Math scores for placement purposes may be required to take additional college placement tests if they have not completed the OSAS ELA or Math assessment.
• School rating: If too few students are assessed, your school’s rating on the state school report card will be negatively impacted. A school’s rating can influence how a school is perceived and how well it attracts and retains student enrollment and neighborhood residents. Under Oregon’s school accountability system, schools and districts that have state testing participation rates below the minimum requirement, 94.5% of all students and 94.5% of each subgroup of students, will have their overall school rating lowered by one level (out of five) per each consecutive year participation rates are not met.

• 30-Day Notice and Opt-out Form in English
• 30-Day Notice and Opt-out Form in Spanish

District Level Assessments

These assessments monitor student academic growth across the district and help provide information regarding specific reading and math skills/standards students may be deficient.  Targeted interventions are then prescribed to help students move towards grade level proficiency or to boost them to their next learning experience. These universal screenings are offered three times a school year: Fall, Winter and Spring.

Classroom Level Assessments

Educators administer “quick” checks for understanding along with end of unit assessments to monitor student understanding of concepts and skills in order to help with instructional decisions.