FreshEd #95 – The Opt-Out Movement in the USA (Oren Pizmony-Levy)

When I was in school, I did anything – and everything! – to get out of a test. Seriously. Ask my parents, who I drove nuts. I often refused to go to school on test days or simply pretended I was sick to get out of class just as the exam was being handed out. Tests made me nervous and I hated the idea that one number could forever define my intelligence. Today, more and more students are refusing to take standardized tests across the USA. Unlike my own mini-protest, however, students who refuse to take tests are part of the Opt-Out movement. This movement is found in many states in America and units people from across the political divide. With me to talk about this growing movement is Oren-Pizmony-Levy, an Assistant Professor of International and Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He has been researching the opt-out movement, situating it within the global context. What motivates people to join the movement? What results have been produced? In my conversation with Oren today, we discuss his and Nancy Green Saraisky's report entitled “who opts-out and why?" Who Opts Out and Why? Results from a national survey on opting out of standardized tests https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:201689 How Americans View the Opt Out Movement https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:xd2547d7zx