I opted my 3rd grader (now a fourth grader) last year. It would have been the first year for him taking the state testing. He is twice-exceptional and I felt like the test would have been unnecessarily stressful for him. He is tested so much as it is ! At least the other tests are useful and do something for him - such as the testing for placement in math, which was a week after the three weeks of PSSAs! I am not sure how well he would have done as he would have been totally burned out from PSSAs. Since he had relaxed for three weeks prior to the math placement testing he did well and was placed in accelerated math. Also, the school gives him the Kaufman every year because he has an iep, which at least gives me so much more info about him than the state testing and at least can be used to apply to young scholars.
Anyway, to answer your question, I opted him out and it was not that big of a deal. I kept him home for a few of the days (scheduled doc appts, he spent time with grandparents, etc.) The other days he hung out in the library, did math facts games, etc. He wasn't permitted to log any reading he did on his reading log though (eyeroll) because that w"ouldn't have been fair" but he was hundreds of lines ahead anyway ... that is not why he reads. I am planning on opting him out this year again and going to Disney!
I definitely got the feeling his special-ed teacher was very supportive of parents opting out. But the other teachers tried a little bit to get me change my mind... But they know me and knew they were getting nowhere. Other than my having to go and actually read each of tests in order for me to opt out (so boring and inconvenient), there were no unfavorable ramifications at all.
Last edited by Irena; 09/04/15 05:54 PM.
