Dive Brief:

• Over 500 seniors at Fairview High School in Colorado took part Thursday in a protest against standardized testing.  
• Only nine of the school's 530 seniors took the Colorado Measures of Academic Success exam Thursday, the rest opted out, instead choosing to gather on a nearby field where they held signs decrying standardized testing and collected food and supplies for charity.  
• This is the first year the test, which assess students in science and social studies, has been required.  

Dive Insight:

Jennifer Jun, a Fairview senior who helped organize the protest, told the Huffington Post that while she and the rest of the students understood the purpose of the test and need for feedback, the seniors were "not in accordance with the way they're testing us."  

Even the district superintendent Bruce Messinger seemed to agree, telling the Huffington Post, "I think I can say with some confidence there is concern -- the amount of testing and time away from teaching and learning is a shared concern among our teaching staff, principals and community." 

So what are the specific problems with this exam?  Well, one student took to YouTube to explain. "First, we don't think it's a good idea to test students in the fall of their senior year ... Second, the CMAS testing doesn't align with our high school curriculum. For instance, economics plays a major role on the social studies test even though economics isn't a required course for high school students."

The students plan to continue protesting Friday and will write a letter to state legislators explaining their issues with the exam.

This is not the first round of student-driven protests Colorado has seen this year.  In Jefferson County, hundreds of teens walked out of class in protest of a school board proposal that would narrow history instruction to themes centered around citizenship, patriotism, and respect for authority.