Hundreds of Seattle high school students boycott Common Core test

At a news conference Tuesday, Garfield history teacher Jesse Hagopian said about half the juniors at the school — the site of a testing boycott in 2013 — have refused to take new, computerized tests, called Smarter Balanced, which are designed to measure whether students understand new learning standards known as the Common Core.

"There's actually a growing movement - in fact, probably the largest in Seattle's history," said Jesse Hagopian, a Garfield High School teacher.

Common Core standards, developed by educators across the country and bankrolled by the Gates Foundation, have been adopted in most states in the country.

In Washington, the test to ensure students have achieved these standards is called Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, or SBAC.

This is the first year that all students in Washington state must take the test. It is administered to students in third through eighth grade, as well as tenth grade.

The test given for tenth graders is used as part of a high school graduation requirement. A statement from Seattle Public Schools said students who refuse to take the test will receive a zero score, which could mean they will need to take remedial courses in college.

Opponents of the test said it is unfair, especially for underprivileged students. The entire test is done on a computer, which they said is challenging for students who may not have access to computers or who haven't been taught typing skills.

Hagopian and other Seattle teachers gathered at the local chapter office of the NAACP to denounce the test and urge others to do the same.

Hagopian told KIRO 7 that since the inception of No Child Left Behind, there has been a series of standardized tests.

"It hasn't worked, and we need to move to more holistic forms of thinking rather than A-B-C-D bubble thinking," he said.

Of the dozens of schools listed as having students refusing the test, three schools have more than 100 students opting out: Nathan Hale High School, Ingraham High School, and Garfield High School.

Several districts outside of Seattle also have confirmed students opting out, according to the opponents.

But Kelly James, whose children are in third and sixth grades, likes getting important information about her children's progress.

"Are they on track? Are they having growth every year? Are they meeting higher standards?" James said.

James said she also likes the Common Core way of teaching math and English skills, which are focused more on the process of arriving at an answer.

"I'd rather have my daughter going back to the book and actually drawing a conclusion from what they've read, as opposed to 'oh, I had an experience,'" she said, referring to questions that ask for evidence to support answers.

But many parents have posted homework problems online that show convoluted processes to solve math problems.

Proponents said asking students for multiple ways to arrive at one answer creates deeper understanding of what's happening with the numbers.