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Letter required to pull children out of state tests that start Tuesday, parents and teachers told in Massena

Posted 4/12/15

MASSENA -- Parents who want to pull their children out of state tests must submit a letter to their school before tests begin Tuesday, parents and teachers were told Saturday. According to a fact …

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Letter required to pull children out of state tests that start Tuesday, parents and teachers told in Massena

Posted

MASSENA -- Parents who want to pull their children out of state tests must submit a letter to their school before tests begin Tuesday, parents and teachers were told Saturday.

According to a fact sheet passed out at a forum hosted by the Massena Federation of Teachers, parents have a right to refuse state tests in English language arts and math in grades 3-8.

Presenter of Saturday's forum, Don Carlisto, a Saranac Lake teacher, political activist and board member of the 600,000-member New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), answered a number of questions from parents and teachers. About two dozen people attended the event at the Massena Public Library.

The Common Core-based tests are not properly aligned to the curriculum, not reliable measures of student learning, and put extreme pressure on students to perform and on teachers to “teach to the test,” says the pamphlet “Quick Facts About Test Refusal” handed out at the meeting.

“Refusing the test sends a strong statement that you do not support this kind of ‘test and punish’ model being pushed on our kids and. . . will help get rid of the tests even faster.”

A number of St. Lawrence county school district administrators say they won’t stop parents who want to keep their children from taking the Common Core assessment tests in April and May, and some will be providing alternative locations with an academic activity. “When we’ve received a request from a parent to ‘opt out’ of the 3-8 exams we make sure that the child does not feel punished or singled out for any reason,” said Norwood-Norfolk Central School Jamie Cruikshank. For more information on local schools’ policies, view earlier story.

Students absent when the state tests are taken will be required to make up the tests upon their return, unless have a letter of refusal from their parent, union officials school administrators say.

The NYS Parent Teacher Association position on test refusal states: “PTA strongly supports the right of every parent to decide what is best for their child whether to take or refuse the test. 

We strongly recommend that parents whose children will not participate in annual testing work collaboratively with their school district’s administration on a plan for the child that is agreeable to both parties.”  More information is available at the PTA website.

The tests, used now to assess the progress of third through eighth graders to meet the federal Common Core standards, have been controversial because of their perceived difficulty over earlier tests and because of the difficulty of the Common Core education standards themselves, critics say.

Other objections cited by NYSUT and other critics have included the emphasis placed on the results in measuring not only children’s progress but also teachers’ and administrators’ competence, and the disorganized and unrealistic rollout of the standards and the tests and the new teacher evaluation program all at the same time.

Those protesting the testing also cite time taken from students and teachers in normal classroom instruction that goes toward “teaching for the tests,” and simultaneous reduction in state aid, which has resulted in layoffs of teachers just as new standards were being applied and the results of instruction were being tested.

Reasons frequently given for a student not to take a test, according to a NYSUT fact sheet, are stress on students, age- and grade-appropriateness of the tests, erosion of learning time and lack of state transparency on test content.