**This is different from the Short Description**

A-START! A-START stands for Anti Standardized Testing and Reporting Timing. At Bonita High School the administration has decided to move STAR testing to a two week block schedule in the midst of AP and SAT testing. The STAR testing lasts from April 29- May 11. The SAT Reasoning test or the Subject tests are on May 5th right in the middle. The AP tests follow the very next week starting on the 7th. Having the STAR testing right in the middle of these things will cause extreme stress and ALL test scores will go down because of it. STAR testing scores are used to determine how much funding will be delegated to a school. The lower the score the worse reputation a school receives and the less funding. STAR testing does NOT affect a student on the individual level! You will not be denied to any college or receive any sort of penalty for doing poorly on the test! The only thing affected is the schools funding and reputation. A-START is not any any way against STAR testing; we merely do not believe that the timing of it was well thought out, and we advocate a change. We want to glorify the school but not at the cost of our college education through poor AP and SAT scores. We advocate that the testing be moved to the week after AP testing to ensure maximum performance on ALL tests so that everyone benefits. The way to begin this change is to request opt-out forms in the administration office or in some cases a signed note from your parents. Opt-out forms basically exempt you from the STAR testing. Administration is REQUIRED by law to provide an opt-out form or accept opt-out notes. You can not be denied these forms by anyone ever in the school district. If you are either taking the SAT subject tests or Reasoning test we at A-START urge you to opt-out until the tests are postponed. If you are taking at least one AP test we urge you to opt-out until the tests are postponed. If you are taking both of these things we strongly urge you to opt-out until the tests are postponed. If you are not taking a SAT or any AP test we urge you to DO THE STAR TESTING because it will be the only testing you will have and will help the school. A-START wants to help students who truly need it, not people who just want out of testing. If you have no other testing we DO NOT endorse your opt-out. Some Administrators will tell you that the STAR tests are easy, and will not be very stressful. This is not true, having long arduous days set up on block schedules is bad enough, as many may already know. Implementing STAR testing over the course of 2 weeks is a horrible decision considering long-term stress. Now both of these stressful things are being combined together with AP tests and SAT's and creating 2 mega stress weeks. Too much high-stress testing is a very bad thing. We at A-START believe that we as the students must take action to change the test dates in order to ensure high test scores on all tests taken. This is your future, grab a hold of it and make A-START towards reform.