State Testing Supports School Choice!

Colorado is one of the BEST places to be for all of us who support public online school options.  Some states have VERY limited public online school options.  Some states have NO online public school options.  For those of you who have chosen to enroll your child(ren) in a public online school, you have already shown your support for school choice.  However, just because Colorado is an amazing school choice state, doesn't mean that it will stay that way.  As someone who has participated in events like Colorado Cyberschools Day at the Capitol, and even had the opportunity to speak with our legislators, I know that we want to keep encouraging our state in school choice.

How do we keep a good strong message of school choice as an option in Colorado?  Go to State Testing!  

When our child(ren) takes the state tests, we are sending a loud and clear message that we believe the public online school is a viable school choice option for our child(ren).  Whether we like it or not, these standardized state tests are what is used to gauge our school's performance, as well as our child(ren)'s performance.  State tests are something tangible for our legislators to view. Not participating in these tests gives our school a lower performance rating and an inaccurate one.  Colorado is an "Opt Out" state, which is great to have that option, BUT "opting in" will help our schools show that they are a viable education option.  

Does it matter?  YES!  Low performing schools are more in danger of closing. Low attendance not only misrepresents our student population's abilities, it automatically can lower our school performance.  We definitely don't want that!    What will the future of our public online school be or other public online schools be, if we don't show up for our standardized state tests?   

We want our legislators to hear our message loud and clear: We support public school options!  We believe in our public school choice!   

Please, let's start these conversations now,  and let's address any concerns now about state testing.  Please join my family,  and let's show our legislators how much we value our school choice option - in a way that they are sure to hear us.   Don't assume that Colorado will always have public school choice options available!  Please, consider showing your public school choice support through participation in State Testing. 

By Peggy Berning
Public online school family for 17 years and counting.
5 public online school students. 
2 have graduated and are in college 

Peggy Berning