Southampton Parents: Is Your Child Opting Out of Testing?

Students in New York State will sit down this week to take the infamous Common Core tests.

Approximately 60,000 students opted out of testing in 2014, according to the New York Post. Even more students are expected to opt out this year in protest of the tests.

A deafening outcry from parents, students, teachers, and politicians on both sides of the aisle has grown over the past few years since the tests were instituted. On Long Island, educational leaders have overwhelmingly joined the opposition.

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Last June, Sag Harbor schools sent a letter to parents stating that they recognized that the first year of full implementation of Annual Professional Performance Reviews (APPR) may have resulted in students in some districts and BOCES to be tested more than needed and insured parents that the State “has not created any additional tests as part of the implementation of the Common Core.”

According to the district’s letter, all required state tests other than two high school social studies Regents exams – including all grades 3-8 assessments and high school exams in English, math, and science – are required by federal law.

On February 11, 2014, the Board of Regents adopted emergency regulations to address the concerns raised by stakeholders and to adjust and improve the implementation of the Common Core standards and teacher/principal evaluation.

“The approved regulatory amendments to the APPR system are intended to help districts and BOCES reduce local testing and ensure that the amount of testing is the minimum necessary to inform effective decision-making,” the letter read. “Teaching, not testing, is the core of our work.”

The South Shore created a red line down Sunrise and Montauk Highways in March in protest of the exams. Hundreds lined the streets in protest with cardboard cutouts of Cuomo and signs exclaiming “kids not numbers.”

Cuomo’s increased consequences of test scores only further infuriated its opponents.

After 96 percent of New York teachers were rated effective or highly effective, Cuomo insisted the ratings were “baloney” in his State of the State address. He suggested that50 percent of a teacher’s rating be connected to their students’ scores because principals’ observations tended to be positive, according to The New York Times.

Tenure was also a factor in the changes this year, with teachers having to wait an additional year before having eligibility and requiring teachers to have three ratings of effective or highly effective in that period, according to the report. Districts could also fire teachers who receive two consecutive ineffective ratings.

On the other hand, supporters of testing insist it is the best way to gauge the success of each student to provide better education.

High Achievement New York said testing provides “a rigorous, clear and consistent set educational standards created with input from our teachers, parents, principles and state leaders and adopted by New York State in 2011” that “will help ensure that every New Yorker can reach their potential, no matter their background.”

Parents: Is your child opting out of the 2015 New York State tests? Why or why not? What is your reasoning for your decision? Vote in the poll below (which is being posted on all Long Island Patch sites) and explain in the comments.