By MATT LINDSEY and CRAIG FREILICH

The number of students opting out of Common Core exams at Potsdam, Norwood-Norfolk and Parishville-Hopkinton was nearly cut in half at all three schools.

At Potsdam Central, 88 of 631, or 14 percent, of students in grades three through eight opted out of Common Core English Language Arts assessment tests this year. By comparison, 27 percent of students opted out last year.

For the math assessment tests, 17 percent, or 107 of 631 opted out. That is down from about 31 percent in 2015.

“I hope the change is because parents reconsidered their position based on the changes made,” said Potsdam Central Superintendent Joann Chambers.

The movement from parents, teachers and staff brought concerns to the forefront, she said. And the State Educations Department responded.

Chambers says the tests are shorter and not time. Input from teachers was also taken into consideration when creating test questions, she said.

Another improvement in the process is that teachers will receive results before the end of the year, instead of in the fall, like last year.

“It is a positive change…teachers can make a better assessment of their students,” she said.

Chambers says the assessment tests can provide “early warning signs” for students who are not on the trajectory toward a Regents diploma.

Chambers said she has had “some good, thoughtful dialogue” with parents about the testing.

“Some parents felt uncomfortable that we asked why their children would not be taking the test,” Chambers said. “We have a genuine interest in why…we want to address it and make sure parents have correct info.”

Chambers says PCS plans to hold community forums well ahead of testing to give the community a chance to better understand the testing and give them a chance to voice their concerns.

Students at Norwood-Norfolk Central School taking the Common Core standardized English tests last week “opted out” of the exam at a much lower rate than students did last year.

About fifteen percent of third- through eighth-graders at N-N chose not to take the tests last week, compared with 26 percent last year, according to Norwood-Norfolk Central School Superintendent James Cruikshank.

He also said during the first day of the math tests Wednesday this week, “just shy of 22 percent” chose not to take the test, compared with 36 percent last year. And he said he did not expect that number to change by much through the rest of the spring math tests this week.

“I think there are a few things” that go into the drop in refusals this year, Cruikshank said.

• “Obviously with the new commissioner (state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia)  facilitating decoupling of the student test scores and teacher and principal evaluations,” the level of tension over the results of tests that were seen last year as heavily flawed is lower this year.

• Cruikshank said the students will have as much time as they need to complete the tests this year.

• “Not having a time limit has reduced some anxiety” on the part of students and their parents, he said.

• “More teacher inputs in reviewing the tests has reduced concerns about inappropriate tests,” which drove a lot of last year’s “opt-out” movement once parts of the tests were revealed and were widely reported to be out of line for grade levels.

• “And we’ve explained how we use the tests,” Cruikshank said.

The data gained will not be used to judge individual students but “on a grade level. They will be used for programmatic review” such as helping to design a vocabulary initiative based on the test assessments.

“It’s not just an evaluation of ‘my child’ or ‘my child’s teacher,’ but it will give us a look at our students” compared with regional and statewide measures, he said.

“We’ve had standardized tests for years, but it’s only since teacher evaluations came into play that we felt the threat from the opt-out movement,” Cruikshank said. But the move away from the direct link between student test scores and teachers’ evaluation scores has resulted in a “de-escalation of intensity” over the tests.

And with the removal of the time limit for completing the tests Cruikshank said “there’s no rush, no anxiety” compared with the atmosphere last year.

“Having educators review every question helped” to alleviate the concerns of students, parents and teachers over what had been seen as the unfairness of some questions on last year’s tests, which were widely criticized when their contents became known. The resulting scores were low and well below expectations compared with results from previous standardized tests, just when the push was on for fast improvement, which made students and their teachers feel like failures.

“These tests are much better aligned with expectations from the curriculum. There are still some challenging questions, but our students are relaxed and working,” the Norwood-Norfolk supervisor said.

When the scores come in, “we analyze the data from these exams to improve programs.” Fairer tests, more time to complete them and fewer opt-outs will yield “better results, more data points, and better info. We hope the district can use the data to provide a more engaging curriculum,” Cruikshank said. 

One hundred and four, or 13.7 percent, of students in grades three though eight opted out of Common Core English Language Arts assessment tests this year in Ogdensburg.

That’s nearly the same as last year when 103 students or 13.4 percent opted out. Eighth graders accounted for the largest number of students opting out of tests, with about 27.6 percent choosing to skip the exams.

In Massena, the number of students refusing to take the ELA exams is declining, according to Massena Central Superintendent of Schools Patrick Brady.

He said 17.6 percent opted out this year, compared to 25.6 percent in 2015.

“There were 1,201 students in grades 3-8 who were eligible to take the New York state English Langauge Arts exam. Of those students, 210 refused to take the test,” Brady said.

At Parishville-Hopkinton Central School, the number of students opting out of Common Core assessment exams has dropped drastically, from 34 percent last year to 11 percent this year, according to school Superintendent Darin P. Saiff.