Carol Burris, a leader in the Opt Out movement in New York and a respected high school principal, explains here who is responsible for the mass opting out in New York State and why the movement is not going away.
The State Education Department has thus far refused to release official numbers for opt outs, so parent organizations have been calling every district in the state and compiling the data. Funny that an organization that loves data so much would fail to release the data it has. The opt out groups now claim that more than 200,000 students in New York state refused to take the tests. This occurred despite threats that schools would lose federal funds or students would face some unspecified punishments.
Critics of opt out claim that the movement is a white-suburban-mom thing, as Arne Duncan did a while back. But Burris has the facts to prove them wrong:
It was evident that the state would be far below the 95 percent federal participation rate as soon as the 3-8 English Language Arts tests began. When math testing started, the numbers climbed higher still. In the Brentwood School District, a 49 percent opt-out rate for ELA rose to 57 percent during math tests. These rates defy the stereotype that the movement is a rebellion of petulant “white suburban moms.” Ninety-one percent of Brentwood students are black or Latino, and 81 percent are economically disadvantaged. Brentwood is not unique–Amityville (90 percent black or Latino, 77 percent economically disadvantaged) had an opt-out rate of 36.4 percent; Greenport (49 percent black or Latino, 56 percent economically disadvantaged) had an opt-out rate that exceeded 61 percent; and South Country opt outs (50 percent black or Latino and 51 percent economically disadvantaged) exceeded 64 percent. New York’s rejection of the Common Core tests crosses geographical, socio-economic and racial lines.
Given the obstinate denials by state and federal officials, it is to be expected that parents in New York and across the nation will double down on their efforts. By opting out, they are not only rejecting the tests, they are rejecting the hours and hours devoted to test preparation, the coupling of student test scores and teacher evaluations, school closings based on test scores, and the entire “reform” campaign to force our nation’s public schools to operate in a free market, instead of acting on behalf of their communities. The longer term goal of the opt out movement:de-emphasizing standardized testing, using tests for diagnostic purposes, equitable resources, public support for a public institution, restoring professional autonomy to educators, and respect for the daily work of educators.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The response is predictable.
In the face of hard data the battle will be over the messaging of what they were protesting.
Too bad there’s no multiple-choice to answer for the reason why you opted out of the test.
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The Austrian School, Stigler, Schumpeter, and Miltie Friedman, with their parroted theories of the Invisible Hand, and Creative Destruction, have long been proven false assumptions when looking at a Free Market that is anything but free.
Market forces are so polluted and manipulated by the oligarchs, that they should be flushed down the toilets of America.
Just watch the machinations of gas/oil prices over these past months to see how the market traders control our lives. Think Enron, Ken Lay, and his cackling traders bragging openly about how many little old ladies in California they ruined! And now, watch the Dem infighting over TPP, another ‘give away’ that really is a ‘take away” of more American production jobs, all to enrich the wealthiest among us.
David Letterman gave Obama almost an hour last night to impose his opinion on this trade policy, now he should give Harry Reid equal time to explain to us all why this is the most dangerous trade law put forth, even worse that NAFTA,
So….applying this to education issues.
To impose these theories on public education is ridiculous and is meant to control the outcomes and the products, children/students, to create subservient citizens who will not be able to do enough true critical thinking so that they will be quiescent and fit into their assigned cogs in the vast Wall Street machine.
I spent the weekend reading up on the members of Boards at CCSA, KIPP, PUC, etc. All these charter schools seem to have the same cast of characters both funding them and running them. The #1 name of almost every ‘Charter School and anti-Public School Board’ in the US is Carrie Walton Penner, ‘scion-esse’ of the richest family in the world, the Waltons. In league with this group of self appointed GODS is of course, the usual suspects, Broad, Gates, Murdoch, Kochs, et al.
We know who the enemy is….when will we Lesser Gods take to the streets and turn this around?
Please Carol…we need you in Los Angeles to help us with Opt Out…and to fight these same forces of evil and greed who are still running the show at LAUSD. The word on the street is that they have chosen a new female Supt. from the Broad trash, again without a national search and wide vetting, and they all are still drawing huge paychecks at Beaudry, all of it from our taxpayer money. Definitely “taxation without representation!”
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“Rejecting Motley (Inconvenient) Data”
Data do
What you want ‘em to
When you eschew
The motley crew
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I am so proud of the movement in NY and NJ but sad that other states did not do the same. My own state has 3 UOO reps but not a peep from them until I contacted them to see why nothing from UOO in our state. I then tried to rallied troops myself but it was too late. We did have some participation but what happened in NY and NJ could have happened in many more states if people would have gotten organized. We had a national group that could have made this happen. I also contacted the national UOO group but never got a reply. The results in NY and NJ were impressive but not sure it will be enough to make a real change but I can GUARANTEE the participation will be huge next year and we need to start working it NOW.
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It’s important to recognize that the environment in every state is different and also there is variation in districts within states.
While there are some commonalities with the rise of accountability testing in the last 15 years, NY is a special case even among states that have attached high stakes outcomes to their state assessments. NY has a long history of high stakes for students end course assessments at the high school level and an educational culture of test prep that few if any other states have. When the current increase in state assessment arrived it took NY’s use of testing and test prep to a level that great numbers of educators and parents found to be excessive. Add in a test based teacher evaluation system that is the modern equivalent of the Salem ordeal by water and it is no surprise that opting out has been prevalent in the Empire State.
In states where there is less test prep and fewer high stakes attached to the state assessment (and in districts that don’t place as much of a local emphasis on standardized benchmark assessments), there is less outrage. I’m not sure what the conditions are in your state, but in a less test centric state a 3%-5% opt out rate would be a significant departure from the past.
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We need a rewrite of The Crucible to be performed at a public school near you.
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Let’s not forget one of the big reasons to refuse the tests is to STARVE THE BEAST. Starve the data beast and starve the beasts that make a ton of money off of these tests. I say we need to go back to marking period tests and average those tests for the students final grade and be done with it. We are measuring every time our kids blink their eyes and believe me it is not for education purposes.
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“We are measuring every time our kids blink their eyes. . .”
NO! We aren’t “measuring” them. We are testing them to death but that is not measuring.
Again a false meme that the edudeformers use to promote their agenda of privatization and destruction of public schools.
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A standardized test can measure the quality of a child’s education about as well as a broken thermometer can measure the quality of a Hawaiian vacation. We must stop trying to equate test scores to anything meaningful that is happening in public school classrooms.
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Plus, if an old-timey thermometer broke in one’s mouth, that person would also be poisoned by mercury!
Kinda like the tests–telling us nothing & sickening the students!
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Every generation has a war that gets public support because the citizens are told that the war will be over by Christmas or in 6 months and the war is necessary to achieve a principle of the Declaration of Independence or a Constitutional right of some sort. Check out the history books you will see it with every conflict. Then 5, 10, 15 years later the country is trying to get untangled from that generations war, but at that point the war profiteers have made their fortunes at the expense of human lives.
This For Profit Education Culture is very similar. Parents, educators and people with kind hearts wanted to believe that these “Deformers” wanted to help all children experience equity and would pursue this with fidelity to achieve the goal of equity and access to quality public education. Now 13 years later BILLIONS of dollars have been lost to profiteers and testing corporations. We are making a statement and we must never let this terrible waste of resources and abuse of children as pawns and guinea pigs happen again.
There is poverty, there are students with dyslexia and other learning challenges whose numbers need those resources. The human capital of staff needs to receive a salary commensurate with the years of schooling and Masters degrees, as well as the real value of what teachers do for and with students every day. Then there are some students who need the schools to be able to address there ability to delve deeper into academic areas and remain in the public school community rather than seek private options. These are the people the hedge-fund managers have robbed, stolen from and fleeced. When do people of power and conscience stand up and apply accountability and justice to the people who have harmed those who are most vulnerable in society, the poor, the disadvantaged, the powerless, the children. All while taping their teachers mouths and handcuffing them from speaking the truth and then spinning the educators heartfelt opinions into claims of being self serving.
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TAGO!
Many don’t, can’t or refuse to see the connections you make. Those so avaricious don’t care how many are harmed, mutilated or killed as long as they can make their profits.
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So well written….
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I LOVE the examples from the two tests! But…my hunch is that Cuomo, Tisch, and Duncan will continue propagating their meme that the union is behind this (and the media will echo this) and Cuomo, Tisch, and Duncan will continue promoting VAM as the magic potion for fixing the “bad teachers” who are the cause of the “failing schools”.
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“…the entire “reform” campaign to force our nation’s public schools to operate in a free market,…”
I would really like to throw out the term “free market.” We all know that the market is anything but free. Even if by some miracle we actually created a free market, I question its ability to protect and provide for the public good. Isn’t there something mutually exclusive sounding about the juxtaposition of those two terms, free market and public good?
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Billions lost and manipulating everything to make it seem ok. It wasn’t! It isn’t.
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There’s data, which is actual information, freely shared, and then there’s “data,” which is just a pseudo-scientific pretext for doing or getting what you want.
The former is dangerous to the so-called reformers, and will be suppressed if possible. The latter is an integral part of so-called reform, and will continue to. be insisted upon.
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Micheal Fiorillo: spot on!
IMHO, the best line of the posting is:
“Funny that an organization that loves data so much would fail to release the data it has.”
The above read in conjunction with your comments:
A one-two KO punch to rheephorm data-drivel [not a typo] pretensions.
But then, what can one expect from those wedded to the Marxist approach to data analysis:
“A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere.”
Try to top that!
😳
Hearing the “thought leaders” of the self-proclaimed “education reform” movement would make Groucho so so proud that he is gone but not forgotten.
😎
P.S. To be fair and balanced, even skeptics of Marxian math can admire the way that rheephormsters can find the beauty of numbers & stats in the most unlikely of places:
“My favourite poem is the one that starts ‘Thirty days hath September’ because it actually tells you something.”
😏
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Krazy: love your Marxist thoughts! You (& everyone reading this) must read Glen Brown’s blog (Glen Brown:Teacher/Poet/Musician) from 4/13/15,”Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road, Politically & Philosophically Speaking?” A nice laugh (we all need)–a gift for Teachers’ Appreciation Day (although it’s supposed to be a week-?).
I’ve even referenced one of your Groucho quotes, & the comments are a hoot, as well.
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One more…just got this today.Diane is our hero! I love her blog. t From: Diane Ravitch’s blog To: ttorchia61@yahoo.com Sent: Tuesday, May 5, 2015 1:01 PM Subject: [New post] Carol Burris: Why The Opt Out Movement is Terrifying Our Leaders #yiv5805023805 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv5805023805 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv5805023805 a.yiv5805023805primaryactionlink:link, #yiv5805023805 a.yiv5805023805primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv5805023805 a.yiv5805023805primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv5805023805 a.yiv5805023805primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv5805023805 WordPress.com | dianeravitch posted: “Carol Burris, a leader in the Opt Out movement in New York and a respected high school principal, explains here who is responsible for the mass opting out in New York State and why the movement is not going away. The State Education Departmen” | |
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One school surveyed students on the CC tests. You know what a lot of them wanted? A mouse.
If we’re going to give them adult work the least we could do is give them adult tools, instead of having them struggle thru this endless test on a tablet.
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How’s that get anyone career ready for tiny bead work, if we give them an interface tool that is the size of their palm?
Make them do the tests on an apple watch and build some grit.
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Watch out, TC, your watch idea could be taken seriously by Gates & co.!
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No, seriously, there ought to be a bill of rights for students taking a computer test. Like a normal size computer with a mouse, that doesn’t crash or lose input for starters.
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I agree. The survey made me smile because the kids were so practical.
“Enough with the marketing. How about you give me a tool that works so I can churn this data out?” 🙂
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But if they had the right equipment, they might not churn out the right data. After all, we all know that public schools are failing. And we’ll prove it if we have to have the kid take these tests on stone tablets with chisels.
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How about a bill of rights that gives kids the right to refused computer tests (in favor of bubble or other pencil based tests). The differences in the amount of “data” that the harvesters can glean is enormous!!
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We are going to see how fast you can run, but first place one hand behind your back and keep one leg up. Now start hopping.
Ellen #TheFourMinuteMileInThreeMinutesOrLess
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Money, money money! Funny how there’s never enough for more teachers, better salaries, smaller classes, BOOKS!!!, sc hool supplies, gyms, libraries, music and art teachers, decent cafeteria food, decent facilities–need I continue?–but NEVER a lack of it for test materials, test-related software, test- related training, consultants, computer systems to analyze “data”…The only thing that is truly lacking is the political will to imprve social conditions
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improve pay, provide universal daycare and pre-k, afterschool and enrichment programs. More’s the pity and the shame of our sometimes great society…
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But… Here Comes the Monkey!
Have any of you seen this? Informative and hilarious! Last Week Tonight with John Oliver takes on Standardized Testing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6lyURyVz7k
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I’ve been distributing the above clip to many people today. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone in the media call out Pearson like this before.
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I want a t-shirt that says, “Here comes the monkey!”
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Too bad John Oliver didn’t mention that Pearson was a British Company.
Ellen #WhoWonTheWar?
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Wisconsin remains silent about this issue in terms of media coverage…..
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Yeah–new Boston Tea Party–Dump British Pearson stock into the New York Harbor!
Pearson, Plc (PSO) Real-Time Stock Quote – NASDAQ.com
PSO Real Time Stock Quote – Get Pearson, Plc (PSO) last sale data in real-time at NASDAQ.com.
NASDAQ.COM
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Even if this opt out movement does not succeed in getting these tests kicked out of schools, they have already has a profound and positive impact.
They have given teachers and principals the cover to resist, they have undoubtedly heightened sensitivity to future “reforms” that include collecting more data and doing more testing, and they have helped make parents more aware of the impact the education reform movement is having on schools.
I am with Yong Zhao though. This battle is not over until US education gets back to love of learning and creativity as the valued outcomes and gives up on “surpassing Shanghai.”
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Reblogged this on stopcommoncorenys and commented:
Yes. This.
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Interesting to see so many jumping now on the bandwagon opposing the testing mania. This is good — that this parent-spawned opt-out movement has won over so many who earlier had stood on the sidelines, or even actively opposed opting out. Nothing succeeds like success, and the parents of New York, Florida, Colorado, and a growing number of other areas stood up for their children and against the deforming “reformers” and their testing — and did so so successfully that now many others are spreading the word. But let’s not lose sight of the pioneering work these parents, and many students, and a growing number of teachers have led when it was not so popular. They are our pioneers. And they are adding invaluable strength and perspective to our movement to save public education, and to stop the billionaire boys club et al’s cabal.
Diane’s comment at the end of this blog is so important: “Given the obstinate denials by state and federal officials, it is to be expected that parents in New York and across the nation will double down on their efforts. By opting out, they are not only rejecting the tests, they are rejecting the hours and hours devoted to test preparation, the coupling of student test scores and teacher evaluations, school closings based on test scores, and the entire “reform” campaign to force our nation’s public schools to operate in a free market, instead of acting on behalf of their communities. The longer term goal of the opt out movement:de-emphasizing standardized testing, using tests for diagnostic purposes, equitable resources, public support for a public institution, restoring professional autonomy to educators, and respect for the daily work of educators.’
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