Testing for the Common Core State Standards is under way in the Renton School District and officials report that so far the number of students that have opted out of taking the tests is low.

Students in grades 3 to 8 and 11 are taking the Smarter Balanced Assessments this spring. More than 90 percent of elementary students took or are scheduled to take the tests, according to Randy Matheson, district spokesperson.

“Some high school parents signed refusal forms citing their student’s need to focus on other testing such as Advanced Placement tests, which will be administered soon,” Matheson said, via email.

The Renton School District continues to identify parents who signed refusal forms to not allow their student to test, he said.

Principals had conversations with parents about how the assessments would be used by classroom teachers and to ensure they had facts about the state’s Common Core Learning Standards and Smarter Balanced Assessments, prior to providing the refusal forms, Matheson said.

Currently, all third-graders have completed the English Language Arts portion of the tests and all 11th-graders have taken the math portions. In the district, every school has developed their own schedule to meet each building’s needs. Testing will be complete by the end of May.

So far, testing in classrooms has been going well, Matheson said. The district was able to detect and rectify computer-related issues in the weeks leading up to the start of testing. That work involved making sure there were the correct amount of computers, Wi-Fi and routing capacity to allow large numbers of students to simultaneously take the tests online.

The district is tracking any software glitches related to the tests, either initiated within the district or from the state’s online testing contractor. The spokesperson said any issues will be reported to the state’s education office.

“We will review scheduling of the tests by grade level to ensure we are allowing ample time for all students to test, including those who need special testing accommodations,” Matheson said.

There has been criticism that the tests don’t take into account the number of students who don’t have computers at home. To that, Matheson said students use computers in schools every day and have been practicing their computer typing skills recently, including accessing the practice tests and assessment blocks.

The Smarter Balanced Assessments have also been criticized because they are entirely in English and English Language Learners, or ELL students, are also expected to take them.

Test directions and glossaries have been provided in 17 different languages to support students who speak another language. Washington state uses 11 of these glossaries in Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, Tagalog, Ilokano, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Punjabi, Russian, and Ukrainian.

Critics have argued that the glossaries don’t accommodate all students from different backgrounds not reflected in the language glossaries.

The accommodations are a part of the state’s Designated Supports for the tests. Any student who uses the translated glossary can also click on the word to hear it identified in their language, according to Matheson.