I did not want my kid to be a guinea pig for a movement to take control over curricula and modes of instruction away from a (generally excellent) state system and from teachers and put it in the hand of corporations.
In my district, and in yours, participation was optional. I agree there are dangers, but I may try to opt in next year, reasoning "are matches dangerous, when the house is already on fire." Maybe you live in New York state, I don't think most people would describe California as "a (generally excellent) state system". Though it depends on your district.
Perhaps our benefactors the Davidsons would have an informed opinion on this notion (is personalized learning helpful to gifted... is gifted "losing" and is personalized learning then a pragmatic fallback strategy for our movement), having developed learning software last century, and then becoming philanthropists for gifted.
