Source: https://www.educateiowa.gov/resources/laws-and-regulations/legal-lessons/opting-out-testing-november-2014-school-leader-update
Timestamp: 2017-09-21 19:35:29
Document Index: 702136167

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1111', '§ 200', '§ 256', '§ 279', '§ 200', '§ 1118', '§ 256']

Opting Out of Testing (November 2014 School Leader Update) | Iowa Department of Education
Opting Out of Testing (November 2014 School Leader Update)
The Iowa Department of Education has received requests from parents and others that students be opted out of statewide assessments, district-wide assessments, and other assessments of student performance. The law provides for no opt out.
The law requires that all Iowa students be assessed.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110 (hereinafter NCLB) each state shall demonstrate that it has a statewide accountability plan that takes into account the achievement of “all public elementary school and secondary school students.” NCLB, § 1111(b)(2)(A)(i), (b)(2)(C)(i), (ix) (emphasis added). The United States Department of Education has adopted rules implementing these statutory provisions. See, e.g, 34 C.F.R. §§ 200.2(b)(1), 200.6
Similarly, Iowa law requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules regarding assessment of and reporting of student achievement. Iowa Code § 256.7(21). Pursuant to that statutory authority, the State Board promulgated a rule requiring “assessment of student progress for all students.” Iowa Admin. Code r. 281—12.8(1)(f) (emphasis added).
The requirement in federal and state law to report participation rates on statewide assessments does not change the obligation imposed by the plain language of state and federal law to assess all children.
The Iowa Code and implementing administrative rules also require all students be assessed in multiple other contexts. See, e.g., Iowa Code § 279.68 (early literacy statute); Iowa Admin. Code ch. 281—62.
The law contains no provision for parents to opt children out of assessments.
None of the statutes, regulations, and rules in state or federal law give the parents the authority to opt their children out of accountability assessments. They use the term “all,” and “all” as a statutory term “usually does not admit of an exception, addition or exclusion.” Consolidated Freightways Corp. v. Nicholas, 258 Iowa 115, 137 N.W.2d 900 (1965). The statutory scheme at issue conforms to this longstanding general rule.
NCLB contains limited provisions that allow children to participate in different assessment activities, but those are narrowly drawn and do not amount to a parental opt out. See, e.g., 34 C.F.R. § 200.6. NCLB’s parental involvement provisions also do not contain a provision allowing for opting out. NCLB § 1118. Likewise, Iowa education law contains references to unilateral parent “opt outs,” which are conspicuously absent from the statutes on assessment. See, e.g., Iowa Code §§ 256.11(6)(a) (physical education, physical activity, or CPR course, if conflicts with religious belief); 279.50(5) (human growth and development instruction). In the absence of such a specific authorization of parents to opt children out of assessments, the Department lacks the authority to approve of granting such requests.
Local school districts determine the consequences for withholding children from testing.
Printed from the Iowa Department of Education website on September 21, 2017 at 2:35pm.