I remember taking the Iowa tests in school as a kid. Oh, the pressure of that single test. But I was assured by my parents and my teachers that the test had a simple format and covered topics which I had already learned. I scored well, although that was no surprise as I was doing well in school.

This year is the first year that my children are in public school, having been homeschooled up until fall 2014. They are faced with the PARCC test. I’m sure you’ve heard of it, particularly if you have a child in school between the third and 12th grades.

I have been hearing about this test from my children for some time, as they have been preparing for it for weeks. My oldest began a class this quarter, which was labeled social studies. In the class, she has learned nothing. Instead, she and her classmates have been asked to load programs onto the computers to ready them – meaning the computers, not the students – for the PARCC test. She has even overheard the teachers refer to the class as “guinea pigs” on more than one occasion.

Initially, I told her not to worry about this. That it is probably difficult for a school system to prepare for a new test and the computers needed to be in working condition, right? But the more I hear about the PARCC test, the more I have my doubts. And parents across the state have begun to opt out.

Your children are not legally obligated to take the PARCC test and House Bill 7 will provide a safe harbor for students who do not test and the school districts they attend. The bill was passed by the Ohio House of Representatives by a vote of 94-0 and will now be voted on by the Senate. In Columbus, some school districts have set up planned activities for children who opt out of testing, including in one district an area where high schoolers can work with grade school students on various learning tasks.

I have many friends who are against the PARCC test, including teachers who speak openly about how miserable the test truly is. But I wanted to hear both sides of the story, so I searched Google to uncover the benefits of the PARCC test. The first three results were directly from the test website, and the next five results were all pointing out flaws in the test. I noted that some were reliable sources and others were blogs and other opinion sources. So I decided to contact the superintendent of my local school district for answers.

I sent an email that mentioned my struggle with accepting the PARCC, including the fact that the publisher of the test refers to it as a “trial” and that there are suspicious business reasons, including financial gains for the publisher and economic gains for the state, for Ohio schools to proceed with the PARCC testing.

The superintendent provided some helpful information in his response to me. Even though students will not be penalized for opting out, the school will be. He wrote that the “school district will be affected by any opt-outs. The state will score them as zeroes for the school district in essence affecting the evaluations of the teacher, the principal and the school district unless recently proposed House Bill 7 goes through.”

He backed using state-offered aids to assist in learning, stating, “I feel we would be doing an injustice to our staff and students if we did not take full advantage of any practice offered by the state.” But the practice he refers to, by his account, includes “computer skills needed to be taught or re-taught for the test, manipulations of tools to be used during the test” as well as prep time for both students and teachers that takes away learning in the classroom.

Personally, I cannot understand why our students must take time out of learning to be taught how to take a test. I do not like the idea that my children are “guinea pigs” for a test that is a “trial.” I do not support Common Core and feel that it is merely confusing our children and our teachers. I do, however, support my school district and all of the wonderful teachers, staff, and the superintendent, who took time out of his day to reply to my message.

I feel that we as parents and grandparents need to take a stand against Common Core and the PARCC test. We need to support House Bill 7 so that our schools are not penalized for those who are exercising their parental right of authority over their child’s education. Let’s send a strong message to the state that we will not stand for an economic plan that involves the well-being of our children. Opt out of the PARCC test. GO to OptOutOhio.com for an opt out form and more information.

Write Laurie Harley at columns@tribtoday.com.