Students opt out of Common Core tests
Thousands of students across Nassau County refused to participate in the first round of Common Core testing last week, sending a clear message to Albany regarding state assessment testing—and more of the same is expected during this week’s testing. A total of 82,036 students opted out of ELA testing last week, according to Long Island Opt Out.
In Plainview, a whopping 48 percent of students opted out of the English Language Assessment (ELA) tests. That’s 1,082 students, up from 423 last year, that opted out of the 2015 ELA. A parent of one of those students, who chose not to give her name, said she advised her son, a fourth-grader at POB Middle School, to opt out because she doesn’t believe the method of test preparation adds anything to a learning environment.
“They’re learning how to be stressed out for a test, basically,” she said. “There is no joy to this kind of learning; no real benefit to it. It’s all test preparation.”
Another parent said that while she didn’t necessarily agree with Common Core testing, she chose to have her daughter take the exam.
“I’m telling her not to put too much stock into these tests,” said the parent, whose daughter is also in the fourth grade. “I gave her the choice and she didn’t want to opt out.”
Dr. Lorna Lewis, Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School Superintendent of Schools, said Plainview’s opt-out numbers reveal that all parties involved need to find a solution to this testing strife.
“The percentage of Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District parents who chose to have their children opt out of the recent federally-mandated standardized tests is consistent with other districts across Long Island,” she said. “More than 16,000 students have opted out in districts across Nassau and Suffolk Counties illustrating the growing concern parents have regarding the value of these tests. Moving forward, it is critical that the issues surrounding these tests be addressed by all parties involved.”
Jeanette Deuterman, head of the opt-out movement on Long Island, and the Facebook Group Long Island Opt Out, had mixed feelings on the results of the refusal numbers.
“I am so incredibly grateful to parents that have chosen to stand up for public schools, their children and our public school teachers by refusing to allow their children to participate in the NYS assessments this year,” said Deuterman. “However, that is mixed with sadness that our classrooms have come to this. I would love for nothing more than to know that legislators, Governor Cuomo and the State Education Department (SED) have finally heard us loud and clear as to what we want and do not want for our children’s education here in New York.”
While there are a seemingly select few, like Deuterman, that see both sides of the issue, a large number of teachers and parents only display their disdain for the Common Core test, further aggravating the problem.
“Unfortunately, we continue to hear the rhetoric that ‘parents just do not understand how important these tests are.’ It is not that we do not understand the importance of knowing the progress of our children, it’s that we do not believe that these assessments are valid or useful in any way to give us that information on how they are progressing,” said Deuterman. “We value the importance of child-centered, hands-on learning, and these common core assessments have robbed our children of that rich, creative learning environment all children deserve. We will continue to refuse these assessments in growing numbers until Governor Cuomo, the legislature and the SED reverses course.”
