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Teachers' union says students can opt out of standardized tests, despite state education department policy

Posted 3/13/15

By CRAIG FREILICH The union representing public school teachers maintains parents have the right to have their children sit out standardized state tests that begin in April, contrary to state …

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Teachers' union says students can opt out of standardized tests, despite state education department policy

Posted

By CRAIG FREILICH

The union representing public school teachers maintains parents have the right to have their children sit out standardized state tests that begin in April, contrary to state Education Department policy.

“Parents have every right to act in the best interests of their children. It’s as simple as that,” said New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) spokesman Carl Korn on Friday.

“And when they make a decision in the best interest of their children, teachers are going to support that decision,” the teachers’ union spokesman said.

But his stand countered the state Education Department position, reiterated Friday in a prepared statement: "The tests are required by the federal government, are a required part of the instructional program, and there is no provision in law or regulation for a parent to refuse the tests."

But Korn said his membership finds it “difficult to believe that a school that is successful, where children learn and achieve, would be in serious trouble” over the decision of some parents to keep their children from taking the assessment tests.

“Parents and school board members understand what is a successful school. A federal designation based on classroom participation (in the tests) is only one marker,” Korn said.

Friday’s state Education Department statement nearly duplicated the position taken in a 2013 letter stating that “opting out” is not approved. In the letter, Steven E. Katz, director of the Education Department’s Office of State Assessment, said the “department requires that all students in public and charter schools in grades 3 to 8 must take all state assessments administered for their grade level.”

The letter did not make clear what the consequences to a parent, student or school would be if a student does not take the tests, and a number of parents last year decided to not have their children take the tests.

The most serious consequence for a school, it seems to NYSUT’s Korn, might come into effect if the test participation rate of a school’s students falls below 95 percent, in which case the school will be required by the SED to come up with a plan to increase the participation rate next time.

But the failure to meet the 95 percent participation requirement has no impact on a district’s state aid, according to a NYSUT fact sheet on the matter. SED is not authorized to withhold state aid based on assessments participation, the fact sheet claims.

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.

Other objections 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.

More info:

NYSUT “Opt-Out” fact sheets, January 2015: www.nysut.org/resources/all-listing/2015/january/fact-sheet-on-opting-out-of-state-tests and www.nysut.org/~/media/files/nysut/resources/2015/january/factsheet_150127_optout.pdf.

NYSED “Student Participation in State Assessments” statement, January 2013: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/assessment/ei/2013/student-participation.pdf