Tuesday marked the first day of the controversial state-mandated testing at public schools across New York and the percentage of students who refused to sit for the exams in the Mattituck-Cutchogue school district slightly decreased compared to last year’s total opt-out numbers.
Tag: state assessments
While this year’s student proficiency scores showed overall improvement statewide, local superintendents say that recent changes in testing design and implementation mean those results don’t reflect student performance accurately.
For the past few years, parents and educators have rallied against the state’s latest system of so-called high-stakes testing, which ties teacher evaluations to the controversial Common Core standards. Their principal strategy has been the opt-out movement, under which students refuse to take mandated assessment tests.
In response to the large numbers of students who have opted out of state-mandated testing in previous years, New York State education officials recently compromised by agreeing to hold off until 2020 on tying test results to teacher ratings.
The number of students opting out of state-mandated math assessments this year increased across the board on the North Fork, mirroring a trend seen last week with the required English Language Arts tests.
Continuing a trend seen since New York State started implementing the tests a few years ago, a large percentage of local students refused to take the state-mandated English Language Arts assessment this week, according to numbers provided by school officials.
Only a portion of students were declared “proficient” in state math and English Language Arts exams this year, and local superintendents say they believe the assessments fail to accurately reflect student performance.
On the first day of this school year’s state assessments, most North Fork school districts experienced a sharp increase in the number of students refusing to take the exams.
Greenport School District Superintendent David Gamberg, right, at Monday’s school board meeting. (Credit: Jen Nuzzo)
The superintendent of the Greenport and Southold school districts has issued a letter to parents outlining what they’ll need to do if they don’t want their children to take this year’s state assessments.
During the Greenport school board’s Monday night meeting, Superintendent David Gamberg said the letter aims to better organize and streamline paperwork for students refusing the test, a movement known as “opting out.”
Although he’s still working out details with administrators about what happens to students who refuse to take the exams on test days, Mr. Gamberg said students won’t be forced to “sit and stare,” which occurs when students who are not taking a test are made to just stare at a desk while the test is administered to others, rather than being allowed to read a book or move to another classroom.