Assessments
Excusing Students from State Assessments
To excuse your student from state assessments, please print out and complete the “Parent Form to Excuse Student from CMAS” and submit a signed copy to your school’s front office at least two weeks prior to state testing begins:
Colorado Revised Statute 22-7-409 requires schools to administer statewide assessments to all students in grades 3-11 in reading, writing, mathematics, and science. In accordance with House Bill 15-1323, PSD has implemented a policy for a parent to excuse his or her student from state assessments. The state assessments that fall under this policy are:
- CMAS and CoAlt English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies
- The 9th and 10th grade preparatory exam
- The 11th grade college entrance exam
When a parent chooses to excuse a student from state assessments, BSD will not impose negative consequences on the student or parent. During testing, the student who has been excused will be supervised in a safe environment where he or she may read or work quietly on school assignments. Alternative lessons or instruction will not be available to students excused from state assessments. As a parent, you may choose to keep your child home during testing. Absences will be excused.
The state assessment system, Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS), is designed to measure student mastery of the Colorado’s academic content standards. Colorado’s academic content standards indicate skills and knowledge necessary to prepare students for success from early school readiness to post-secondary competencies, reflective of both workforce readiness and 21st century skills. Student progress toward these outcomes is measured through CMAS, which provides information to teachers as they incorporate the content standards in their daily instruction. CMAS results are also used for school and district accountability.
If your student is excused from testing, you will not receive results of his or her achievement and growth as measured by CMAS. Educators use CMAS results for instructional planning, class placement, and academic screening, and this information will not be available to your student’s educators.
Note:
The English language proficiency exam (ACCESS for ELLs) is not included in this policy. Also not included are READ Act and School Readiness assessments. Currently, state and federal requirements around testing and parent refusals are not fully aligned. The federal 95 percent participation requirements are still an expectation of federal law.