The New York State Allies for Public Education issued this statement in opposition to State Commissioner MaryEllen Elia’s efforts to “bribe, coerce, manipulate, and threaten students and parents into complying with a broken assessment system.” NYSAPE has led the opt out movement for several years. About 20 percent of eligible students in grades 3-8 do not take the state tests. About half the students on Long Island boycotted the tests. In some schools on Long Island and upstate New York, more than 75% of students refused to take the tests. Commissioner Elia doesn’t listen to parents. She doubles down and tries to force them to take the tests, which provide no information about individual performance to teachers. The tests are meaningless other than as punishments for students, schools and teachers, and they require far more time than taking an SAT for college admission.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 1, 2019
More information contact
Jeanette Deutermann (516) 902-9228; nys.allies@gmail.com
Kemala Karmen (917) 807-9969; nys.allies@gmail.com
NYS Allies for Public Education – NYSAPE
NYS Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia Creates a Culture of Fear, Intimidation, and Misinformation in our Schools
The Every Student Succeeds Act (the federal law known as ESSA) gives states authority to design their own unique accountability plan regarding the state tests. Unfortunately, Commissioner Elia has used that authority to misinterpret ESSA, and has used ESSA as an opportunity to impose a culture of fear on our administrators and teachers, and our children. Under Commissioner Elia’s direction, the State Education Department (SED) at best turns a blind eye to, and at worst encourages, school districts to bribe, coerce, manipulate, and threaten students and parents into complying with a broken assessment system.
As we head into the first round of 2019 grades 3-8 state testing, NYSAPE is receiving an unprecedented number of reports from parents statewide about morally objectionable, educationally unsound, and in some cases, illegal policies and tactics that local schools and districts are using in attempts to suppress test refusal. Parents are reporting bribery with prizes, parties, and exemptions from district course finals. Students are threatened with removal from or ineligibility for honors programs, retention, and summer school; schools are threatened with closure.
Misinformation and scare tactics are coming from school districts, administrators, and even SED itself (see NYSUT’s rebuttal to the Commissioner), and range from claims that refusal students will be scored a ‘1’ and that the tests were created by teachers to statements that the assessments are “vital” and more. The New York City Department of Education even sent out letters–which they later had to retract–informing parents they could transfer out of their schools. Whether the city acted on its own or at the behest of SED is unknown, but SED’s endorsement of “public school choice” for the NY ESSA plan, along with its reductive test-based criteria for identifying these schools as in need of “Comprehensive Support and Improvement” (CSI) certainly paved the way for this debacle. The panic and humiliation caused by identifying schools as CSI was not limited to the city, but was felt in districts all over the state.
Most concerning is the resurgence of purely punitive policies like “sit and stare” (a cruel practice where test refusers as young as 8 must sit in the room with the testers with not so much as a book or a pencil to divert themselves with) and forcing elementary refusers to do old state assessments throughout the testing administration hours. Outraged parents have questioned these abusive actions, and the response many have received from their districts is that these tactics were suggested and encouraged, incredibly, by Commissioner Elia of the New York State Education Department.
A letter from the principal of the Oswego Middle School to her students perfectly illustrates that the NYS grades 3-8 testing system has gone completely off the rails. The sole purpose of the letter was to convince children “why you should say yes to the test.” Given out during the school day, for students to sign while still in school, the letter indicated they should “feel free to share with your parents.” It invoked a warped child psychology, attempting to manipulate students with phrases such as, “you love OMS, and we LOVE YOU! So, you WANT TO HELP!” “If you take the NYS ELA Assessment…you can be exempt from the English Final Exam in June!,” and “Daily Drawings for FABULOUS prizes for all ‘YES’ slips.” And, finally, as a way to single out any child whose parents had decided they wouldn’t be participating, “…a school-wide event if we can hit 100%! Something like a Spring Pep Rally….your favorite teachers will do something FUNNY ‘like’ KISS A PIG.”
Any policy that singles out, discriminates against, rewards, or punishes school children for the decisions of their parents is cause for deep concern. It’s appalling and disconcerting that Commissioner Elia/SED is encouraging these unacceptable policies. SED must immediately admonish these policies, and address the many flaws, complaints, educational issues, and legal questions raised by this deeply flawed testing program—for years the most highly boycotted state testing system in the nation.
NYSAPE calls on the NYS Legislature to pass legislation, before session ends, that reinforces a parent’s right to opt out, protects students from punishment, requires districts to notify parents at the beginning of the school year about those rights, and forbids SED and school administrators to bribe, punish, lie, and manipulate as a way to increase test participation. Neither students, administrators, schools, nor districts should suffer retaliation or negative consequences as the result of parents exercising their right to refuse the state tests.
NYSAPE and parents statewide will continue to monitor the policies and tactics encouraged by SED and implemented by school districts who have chosen to comply with misguided directives rather than advocate for the students in their care. We believe the time has come for the Board of Regents to bring in a Commissioner who values a whole-child education, respects parental rights, and places our children’s best interests at the forefront.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Pushing fear” is all the deformers have.
“I wonder what ‘their religion’ is if they have one?” I write with sarcasm.
The religion of Greed.
Testing malfunctions in NY–again…shouldn’t accountability be a two way street!!!!
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Computer-glitch-hits-state-standardized-tests-13735019.php
In Maryland, we have NO opt out (and we still have PARCC). We have to REFUSE and fight to keep our children from taking these tests. Every year it’s administration refusing to grant refusals and they use all the tactics listed in this letter. My first year refusing, I clearly stated to both Principal’s and testing co-ordinators that if they even tried that sit and stare tactic with my children, I would call the police and report them for child abuse and then call a lawyer. Every year after the first year, the VP would call me in the fall to let me know that it was time to turn in my letters because they were starting MAP testing. If they think they can bully parents and children, they will. It’s a game of calling bluff.
If 20% of parents opted out, the state can’t stop you.
But we don’t have an opt-out clause. We have to REFUSE and use our parental rights to fight for it.
WHY do people like this keep getting hired? serious question….
Parents should have the ultimate say in deciding what is in the best interest of children. I can recall students that were not allowed to go on field trips or participating in holiday parties on religious or personal grounds. Parents should also have the right to refuse a test that is not in a student’s best interest. The school should abide by the decision without a parent’s fear of retaliation.
You hit this one right on the nose. Schools that are so inflexible they respond to individual parent w/dwl from school activity w/intimidation & academic repercussion have no business being called public schools. The SHAME goes directly to Dept of Ed & ESSA which encourages [tho does not require] overriding parent rights – & right down the line to State DofEds reading jot & tittle into wrong-headed policy.
In another matter-
IMO, Mary Ellen Elia should be given a choice to either be fired or to stop the involvement of New York State Department of Ed.,public employees in SETDA. The Gates-funded SETDA (State Education Technology Directors Assn.) has “Gold, Silver, Event and Strategic Partners”, many of whom are presumably private businesses. SETDA has a program which provides ed tech startups (Emerging Partners) the opportunity to showcase their products and services at a “high energy pitch fest”. SETDA promotes digital learning and public-private partnerships. They “take action in important issues facing public education”. SETDA’s 2017 Summit was themed, “Leveraging Technology to Personalize Student Learning”. The program included “Helping Ed Tech Companies Scale Up” .
Is SETDA similar to a situation in which the pharmaceutical companies/industry had FDA government employees fronting for them? Why should democracy tolerate it?
When tech firms, public employees and privatizing venture philanthropists unite as one to share both an agenda and a lobbyist, its an unholy alliance that erodes democracy.
Does Elia have a democracy-derived process to direct SETDA representatives so they know to endorse or reject SETDA activities and policies?
SETDA said in 2009 that its director lobbies at a federal level, so who do they lobby for, Gates, who is a funder, various types of partners or, public employees that people like
Elia allow to represent the states?
Why doesn’t Elia find out if New Yorkers want their kids sitting in front of a computer or, learning face-to face? Why doesn’t she find out if the people paying for the schools want a private, for-profit partner before she sends Dept. of Ed. public employees to endorse what the tech industry wants because it profits them.
I know of one school district where opt out students were required to take a local benchmark test. According to my source, this policy dramatically reduced the opt out rate.
With all the pressure to contain opt outs. I can’t say I can fault administrators and BOEs for doing this.
On a side note, todays ELA test was reported to be significantly easier than it has been in past years. Can’t you see the headlines now: Common Core Scores Surge! Critics Proved Wrong
Rage,
I wish the public and the media understood that the scoring of the tests is completely arbitrary. The passing mark can be raised or lowered to produce a success or a failure.
Cut scores are just one way to manipulate the end result. Reading level of passages, clarity/syntax of item stems, MC distractors, misuse of objective MC format for subjective standards, selection of writing exemplars, the specific standards selected for testing, and of course, the general difficulty of the items can all contribute to the desired range of student scores. It is remarkably easy to write purposefully confusing items and just as easy to write clear, simply stated items.
Nothing proves your point about cut scores more than the disparity between grade 7and 8 CC math scores and grade 9, CC algebra 1 Regents scores. It is no coincidence that when the pressure on high schools to improve graduation rates was ramped up, suddenly the pass rates of CC math and ELA Regents scores skyrocketed in comparison to the 3 to 8 scores – even when compared among same cohorts. It’s a rigged game using children as academic cannon fodder. The adults responsible should be the ones held accountable; taxpayers should seek reparations for the fraud that was perpetrated.
I think they have trouble believing that the adults in charge of testing actually manipulated the standards, test writing, and scoring to purposefully and unfairly produce hyper-failure rates in cohort after cohort of young children. Such cruel behavior is hard to understand and even harder to believe.
How many test pep rallies and pig kissing sessions have I seen? I never liked atheletic pep rallies when I played or coached. Why should we put up with this stuff? If this is not the malpractice Duane talks about, what I Said?
Oh and here are a few more for you…..the week leading up to the tests
1. Pajama day to remind students to get a good night’s rest
2. wear black to show that you know to bubble in the whole circle
LisaM
You’re one day late with this.