About 21-22% of eligible students in New York refused to take the state tests. That’s 230,000 students. That is a popular uprising.
In some districts, more students did not take the tests than did. The county with the highest opt-out rate was Suffolk, the east end of Long Island. There are two counties on Long Island: Suffolk and Nassau: the average opt-out rate was 49.6% for both.
In some small school districts, opting out has become the norm. The one with the highest opt out is in upstate, rural New York. According to Politico:
“Herkimer County’s Dolgeville school system again takes the title for highest opt-out rate in the state with 89 percent of students opting out of ELA, the same percentage it had in 2015.
Dolgeville was followed by Consewogue (84 percent), Plainedge (79 percent), Rocky Point (79 percent), Patchogue-Medford (77 percent), Sayville (77 percent) and Eastport/ South Manor (76 percent).”
Secretary of Education John King wants to punish schools and districts that do not have a 95% participation rate. Long Island is a politically powerful section of New York. The parents are not afraid of King. They weren’t afraid of him when he was New York’s Commissioner of Education. He hopes the movement will fade away. It hasn’t.
Politico reports:
“It is unclear whether the schools or districts with the highest opt-out rates will be sanctioned. The movement comes at a time when the U.S. Department of Education, led by former state education commissioner John King Jr., is trying to increase sanctions for those who don’t meet participation requirements through regulations under the broad federal Every Student Succeeds Act.
Under the new draft regulations, schools would face harsh penalties for not meeting the 95 percent participation requirements.
About 49.6 percent of third- through eighth-grade students didn’t take the ELA test on Long Island, the lowest participation rate in any of the state’s economic development regions. This was followed by 37.5 percent in the Mohawk Valley, 30.8 percent in Western New York, and 26.1 percent in the Mid-Hudson.”
The mass defiance of parents in New York raises questions: Can the state force parents to comply with its demands when there is no issue of health or safety involved? Can schools and districts be punished by the state for the actions of parents?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Can schools and districts be punished by the state for the actions of parents? ”
Better yet a student / parent who did not opt out sounds like a good law suit .Against the state.
LikeLike
John King and the standardized testing circus that comes with the common core is in deeper trouble than the “reformistas” and billionaires can even fathom.
The New York City public school system had low opt-out numbers because Farina has not done what is best for the children, but rather for the “core” pushers. Instead of sending parents letters advising them of the steps required to opt-out she remains mum, towing the corporate line. As the New York City public school parents become aware of the attacks on public education, the bow will break and the largest district in New York will see numbers of those opting out swell.
The affluent neighborhoods of Suffolk, Nassau, Westchester, Orange, Rockland, and many others all have substantial opt-out numbers. While many of these parents do not have the bankrolls of Gates, Bloomberg, the Waltons, and the hedgefunders that profit off the misery of children, cumulatively, many of these parents come from the upper and upper middle classes…they are highly educated…they hold high end jobs and/or positions, a number of them being doctors, lawyers, and business owners. They are often more involved in the politics of their counties and districts, and have the ability to vote the politicians that have welcomed the privatization movement with a stroke of their pens, in return for “cash contributions”, out of office. They also have the ability to either shed light on the unethical privatization movement, and also point out those who were elected to serve all citizens, as law breakers at best (to face different levels of prosecution), or immoral and shameful politicians at a minimum.
While the entire privatization movement was pushed by many as an offensive attack on the public, the citizens of these affluent neighborhoods together, have the ability to fight back financially and politically. While the privateers have won many battles along the way, through sneak attacks that falsify advertising, or paint pictures of good-hearted politicians as being the opposite, the war will inevitably be won by the public.
What is needed is for the great legal minds of New York…to come together…and follow the path laid out by Mr Lederman, which clearly and completely showed APPR to be a complete lie, with both destructive intentions and consequences, as an unjustified and perhaps unlawful attack on public education.
The war will last a long time, I’m sorry to believe…as corporate minions such as Cuomo and D’Elia and Farina continue to be on the take from the dollar throwing plutocrats, intent on selling out our children and our democracy, one school, one district, one county at a time, and mocking the documents our founding fathers risked their lives on, to give birth to an idea that all men are created equally.
But eventually, the billionaires and reformers will lose…when they see their efforts ending in stalemate…their money being flotation devices for a quickly sinking privatization movement.
And then the corporate vultures will move on…to see what other public sectors are ripe for attack.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This really represents a revolt, the government does not , will not recognize it as such. The people have really spoken about education and the policies of the last 8 years. I think this is one of the reasons that a person like Trump has comes so far. The government is deaf, they are not paying attention to the people.
LikeLike
Pockets of opt-outs does not equate to a “revolt”…
LikeLike
When 50% of the eligible students across Long Island refuse the test, I would say that comes close to the definition of a revolt or a rebellion, certainly a mass uprising.
For non-New Yorkers, Long Island is contiguous to New York City. It includes many affluent suburbs and many integrated middle-class suburbs, as well as exurban and rural communities. Many powerful state politicians are based in Long Island, including the leader of the state senate. Politicians cannot look the other way when half the parents say no.
LikeLike
Last time I checked Brooklyn and Queens were also on Long Island. Unless someone moved them while I was away.
LikeLike
NYC never been otherwise, for over a century.
LikeLike
Uncle Albert’s Nephew :
New York City is made up of 5 boroughs/counties:
Bronx (Bronx County), Brooklyn (Kings County), Manhattan (New York County), Queens (Queens County), and Staten Island (Richmond County)
Long Island consists of 2 counties:
(Nassau County & Suffolk County)
Diane,
It’s centered on a pocket of affluent Suffolk County parents in a single county of NY state….
LikeLike
M,
When 22% of the children in the state refuse the test, that is huge. Why do you think Cuomo backed down?
When 50% of the children in Nassau and Suffolk refuse the test, it is a big deal. These are wealthy suburban communities with powerful politicians
LikeLike
M, if Long Island was a state, it would rank 13th in population in the United States. Not exactly a small amount.
LikeLike
230,000 students refused!!!
Real food for thought.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Proud of my LI cousins, all of whom have opted their children out of these tests!
LikeLike