The Mineola School District saw 229 (18.3 percent) out of 1,254 students in grades 3-8 opt out of this week’s New York State English assessment. Today is the final round of English tests.
Mineola tallied just 12 opt out students in 2014. The 2015 opt-out figures have not been confirmed by Mineola school administrators.
Nearby East Williston and Herricks districts saw 171 and 228 students opt out, respectively. Last year, East Williston had 130 while Herricks tallied 113 opt-out students.
“In the past, we really didn’t have an issues with this,” Mineola School Board President Artie Barnett said. “This year, we’re looking at probably 200. [District Superintendent Michael Nagler] hasn’t given us a final run. We’re in the 18 percent area, which is, I think, seventh lowest in Nassau.”
The link of test scores to half of a New York State teacher’s evaluation have given parents and teachers pause in the acceptance and implementation in the curriculum. The measure was approved by the state legislature in March.
“There are many layers to this testing issue and the bigger issue of Common Core,” Mineola School Board Vice President Christine Napolitano said. “I think Mineola is doing a great job of meeting the challenges that the federal and state government has given to public schools.”
With a teacher’s evaluation being tied to assessments, the tug-and-pull between the New York State United Teachers and Governor Andrew Cuomo is ever prevalent.
“Do I think opting out is going to change anything? I don’t know,” Barnett said. “I do know people feel adults are leading the charge.”
“This is so controversial that there is no right answer,” Mineola parent Linda Ramos said. “There’s no middle-of-the-road with this situation.”
School reps argue the children are getting caught up in the hoopla.
“The kids are getting caught up in it a negative way,” Barnett said.“It’s going to lead to confusion in the future for some kids that are going to have to sit for pop quizzes and say ‘I don’t want to take it or my mom said I don’t have to take it.’”
“[The state education department] does not permit us to encourage [children] to opt out—we are officers of the state and take an oath to uphold the laws,” Napolitano said.
The current movement in the U.S. Senate’s debate on revamping the No Child Left Behind Act to give individual states more power in teacher evaluations based on student performance is still in limbo. Lawmakers are deliberating a considerable facelift to the law.
“I’m disappointed with the budget being passed with all this tied into it,” Barnett said. “I’m hopeful that a bipartisan bill in Washington, D.C. is going to get some traction.”
Regents exams are high-stakes, Barnett feels, because graduation hinges on the test.
“Regents [is important],” he said. “You want to graduate? Then you have to pass it. In Mineola, I don’t consider [Common Core] high-stakes testing as it’s called.”
School officials stress that parent angst is with federal and state legislators.
“If Cuomo gets his way, and 50 percent of the evaluation is based on assessments, we have a problem,” Barnett said. “I agree with [teachers]. But I don’t agree with using kids to make your point. Get up to Albany or down to Washington, on the phone to your legislators. That’s where the fight is.”
