It had never really occurred to Chantal Kovach to keep her fifthgrade son from taking Colorado's new annual assessments， until an email started circulating among parents．
Ms．Kovach became concerned that the test would be measuring material her son's class hadn't covered yet．She was worried that the class would have to devote significant hours to taking the test， and then more hours later in the spring taking other tests on the material they had studied．
But it wasn't until she went to the teacher， wondering if it might still be useful to her son as practice， that she made up her mind．
"The feedback I got was that only when an educated group of parents takes a stand against this great waste of time will anything change，" says Kovach， who kept her son home in March and will do so again next week and in May， and says many other parents at her Boulder， Colo．， elementary school are doing the same．
For some parents fed up with the growing numbers of tests and the increasingly high stakes （赌注） placed on their scores， "opting out （退出）" is now a new form of protest （抗议）．And in certain states and communities， the movement is gaining steam，with large percentages of parents and students sitting out required exams．
But some say the protest has negative effects on children and education．Sonja Brookins Santelises， an educator， acknowledges that there are too many tests but says that is an issue that can be solved by reducing unnecessary assessments．And she says the annual assessments have never been better as important tools that shine a spotlight on growth and on achievement gaps．
But parents choosing to opt out say the current tests cause unnecessary stress and harm to their kids， and are pushing instruction and education in a direction they disagree with．



What did the teacher Ms．Kovach talk to say？ ______

A. The results of wasting time．
B. The advantages of educated parents．
C. The importance of students going to school．
D. The necessity of parents showing disagreement．

Which can best replace the underlined part "gaining steam" in Paragraph 5？ ______

A. Dying away．
B. Losing strength．
C. Becoming popular．
D. Getting out of control．

What is Sonja's attitude towards the optout movement？ ______

A. Casual．
B. Doubtful．
C. Supportive．
D. Disapproving．