State must get rid of federal test

It was good to read that 100 percent of Nathan Hale High School juniors opted out of Common Core assessment tests last week. Parents in Washington are waking up to the educational travesty that is Common Core, a federally driven teaching and testing curriculum adopted in 2011 to assess students and teachers every step along the way. The extensive testing drives non-private data-farming on our children. The tests are arbitrarily designed to have high failure rates and transfer great stress to early learners.

The high failure rate lead teachers to “teach the test,” rather than teaching the curriculum, in an attempt to help students pass this arbitrary test which also helps their own assessments. Common Core is a one-size-fits-all curriculum that forces students and teachers into a commonality of approach. In other words, it forces a group-think onto the students and teachers trapped under Common Core. Make no mistake: in time, group-think will thoroughly destroy the future creativity and ingenuity of our children and this nation. House Bill 2165, sponsored by Rep. Elizabeth Scott, 39th district, proposes to repeal Common Core from Washington in 2016, parents across the state need to help make sure it passes. Common Core must go!

David Weston

Lynnwood

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