Last year, my senior year at Lake Oswego High school, the Common Core State Standards went into full effect after spending a while in legislation and the new Smarter Balanced tests were finally used. Although my class did not have to take these tests, we were the last class to use the older Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (OAKS) test, I was hoping I could give a few observations from the perspective of a student who didn't need to take the test, but was still there to see other students struggle with it, which I'm guessing is an angle you haven't heard much from.
First off, and you'll have to believe me when I say that this is the least egregious of your offences, the questions on the test are ridiculous and they need to be rewritten. For curiosity's sake, I decided to take a gander at the math practice test provided online (which is a matter I will cover momentarily). The very first question I was given was along the lines of: a*b=c , [blank]/[blank]=-a, fill in the blanks. Now, this is a fairly easy problem, except for the issue that there two possible answers, either: -c/b or c/-b. I will admit that is entirely possible that the test will accept either answer as true, but, given the fact that it was not stated in the instructions for the test that there would be questions with multiple acceptable answers, I am led to believe that, according to the test, only one of those is correct. Even if the test would accept either, imagine the stress of a poor young student attempting to answer this question when allotted only a minuscule amount of time, enough to give each question a cursory overlook. It's entirely possible that he second guess himself under the pressure and either waste his precious time and/or give a wrong answer. That sounds to me like it is testing the student's self-confidence and ability to deal with pressure more than it is testing his skills in mathematics.
The practice test leads to my second point, that it is available online and only online. According to the Oregon Broadband Adoption Survey approximately 20% of people between the ages of 30 and 64 do not have broadband internet access in their homes. Assuming this is the age range most likely to have children that are students in the high school, that leaves around a fifth of your students with no capability of practicing for the test at home, instead being forced to rely on school and library computers, which I can attest to being generally horrible in both quality and availability. Now, I know you like to be "hip" and "modern" and I know you are hopeful that those students without proper internet access at home would just stick it out and get their practice the hard way, but, coming to you as a recent high school graduate, I can assure you, they will not. Waiting half an hour+ in a public or school library to take a practice test is not something I would do, nor is it something I would wish upon my greatest enemy. There is a fine line between education and punishment, and being forced to endure that would go far beyond the line.
Finally, and I will admit this is more as much bit of life advice for all of you as it is a specific offence related to the standardized tests, all of you need to learn how to take a hint from your students. When 70% of Juniors at arguably the best public high school in the state opt out of the tests, an amount so large that the tests are statistically useless for evaluation of the district as they aren't accurate, it is not a sign that you need to redouble your efforts or make it more difficult to opt out. It is a sign that there is something wrong with the test on a fundamental level. Everything from how long it takes (approximately 8 hours) to how long it takes the results to get back to the teachers (not until after the school year is over which, might I add is extremely odd for a test that is completely digitized) to the lack of support for students with disabilities to the fact that teachers throughout the state generally hate it is all around wrong, broken, and mildly nauseating.
In summation, it's not us, the people that actually deal with the things you do, that are the problem, no, it's you, and your inability to create an even almost worthwhile standardized test. I don't care if you try again and make a new one or go back to the OAKS test, but Smarter Balanced is neither smarter nor balanced, and it is not the correct answer. Thank you for your time, reading comprehension questions are on the next page, each question will have four possible answers, three correct ones, two more correct ones, and one most correct one. Any wrong answers and you will be required to reread the entire letter, because apparently you didn't read closely enough the first time.
Yours Truly,
Bill Goodwin