Archives for category: Opt Out
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NY Times: Should Students “Sit and Stare” if They Opt Out?

By dianeravitch
April 24, 2015 //
39

The New York Times has written another article about the historic Opt Out movement in New York. Thus far, we know that 150,000-200,000 students opted out of the ELA, and we don’t know yet how many opted out of the math tests. The subject of the article is whether opt out students are treated unfairly when forced to “sit and stare,” rather than going to the library and reading while their classmates take the test. The article raises another point: Are the opt out students “bullying” their classmates who are taking the tests?

While these are interesting points, they seem to be trivial as compared to the reasons why parents opt out. It is not simply to protect their children. Is it not simply to thwart public officials who want data. It is because parents know that the tests provide no information of any value to their child.

I have in front of me a report from this year’s ELA exam in New York. It was for a third-grader. The names of the child and the school are removed. The report gives the child a score and a ranking. Of what value is that for the child or her teacher? How does that show whether the school is making progress? How does it lead to improved curriculum and instruction? The teachers and parents are not allowed to see the test questions and answers, or to know which ones the students got wrong. How can anyone learn from such paltry information?

The parents seem to understand this. Their numbers will grow, and as they do, the threats will grow shriller but more hollow.

Categories New York, Opt Out, Standardized Testing

No Juniors Show Up to Take Common Core Test at Seattle High School

By dianeravitch
April 24, 2015 //
34

The Opt Out movement continues to grow. In Seattle, not a single junior showed up to take the Smarter Balanced Assessment at Nathan Hale High School.

Earlier this year, teachers at Nathan Hale passed a resolution against in the Common Core Standards test, but SPS Superintendent Larry Nyland threatened teachers with the loss of their teaching licenses if they didn’t administer the test, according to the Seattle Education blog.

Students who opt out were threatened with a zero.

Despite the threats and efforts at intimidation, the students did not show up.

This is civil disobedience in the finest tradition of American history. Think Henry David Thoreau, think Martin Luther King, Jr., think of the Suffragettes, think Nathan Hale.

Categories Opt Out, Seattle, Students

NY Leaders of Opt Out Movement Issue Their Demands

By dianeravitch
April 23, 2015 //
43

This press release just arrived from Néw York State Allies for Public Education, a coalition of 50 parent and educator groups.

http://www.nysape.org/nysape-pr-ny-parents-have-spoken.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 23, 2015

More information contact:
Eric Mihelbergel (716) 553-1123; nys.allies@gmail.com
Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com
NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) – http://www.nysape.org

NY Parents Have Spoken, Now It’s Time to Fix Cuomo’s Education Budget Debacle & Establish New Leadership for the Board of Regents

For the past two years, New York State Allies for Public Education has warned elected and appointed officials about serious concerns related to excessive high-stakes state testing based on flawed and experimental learning standards, as well as the collection and sharing of private student data.

This past week, the national attention focused on the parent uprising taking place in New York State. Spurred to action by the refusal of both the Governor and the NYS Education Department’s failure to respond to legitimate concerns, thousands of parents fought back to protect their children.

At this time, estimates indicate parents of close to 200,000 students this year have refused New York State’s Common Core testing agenda and the final figures are expected to be even higher.

The educational program of the state is in chaos. Leadership is more important than ever. On Sunday, April 19th the Editorial Board of The Journal News declared, “The stunning success of the test-refusal movement in New York is a vote of no confidence in our state educational leadership” in calling for Chancellor Merryl Tisch to step aside.

New York State Allies for Public Education, a grassroots coalition of over fifty parent and educator advocacy organizations from all corners of the Empire State, stands with the Editorial Board of The Journal News.

Chancellor Tisch must step down. The only way for the Board of Regents, Assembly, and Senate to regain trust of their constituents is to call for the Regents to empower a new leader to fix within its authority, the Cuomo budget legislation fiasco and the misguided Regents Reform Agenda.

“Parents have been left with no choice. We will submit our refusal letters, which is our parental right, on day one of school, next year and every year and if those in power will not listen, we will free our children from a test driven, developmentally inappropriate education,” said Jeanette Deutermann, Nassau County public school parent and Long Island Opt Out founder.

“For the past two years Chancellor Tisch has repeatedly ignored parents at forums throughout the state. She is incapable of leading the state in a new direction because she believes what is happening is just fine and her latest plea for asking for more time is just a distraction from the real issues. Her repeated calls for critics to “calm down” indicates her unwillingness to change course.” said Lisa Rudley, Westchester County public school parent and NYSAPE founding member.

“On Chancellor Tisch’s watch, the work of the State Education Department has been outsourced to a privately funded ‘Regents Fellows’ think tank. It is not surprising that the reforms put forth by this think tank advance the agenda of the wealthy ‘yacht set’ and corporate-linked groups that fund the Regent Fellows: The Robin Hood Foundation, Gates Foundation, and even Chancellor Tisch herself. When you replace a public service with a private organization that advances corporate agendas, New Yorkers know that is corruption,” said Anna Shah, Dutchess County public school parent and Schools of Thought Hudson Valley, NY founder.

“While the Governor has demonstrated blatant disregard for the will of the people by doubling down on the use of high stakes testing, the State Education Department and Chancellor Tisch similarly ignored parent concerns regarding inappropriate test content by forcing children to read passages on last week’s ELA tests that were up to four years above grade level followed by vague and confusing questions,” said Jessica McNair, Oneida County public school parent, Central NY Opt Out co-founder, and educator.

Fred Smith, testing specialist, NYC public schools retired administrative analyst, and Change the Stakes member said, “Instead of transparency and disclosure of complete and timely test data that would open the quality of the ELA and math exams to independent review, Tisch has ruled over an unaccountable testing program that flies at near-zero visibility–in a fog of flawed field testing procedures, age-inappropriate poorly written items, the covert removal of test questions after they have been scored, arbitrarily drawn cut off scores, and the misapplication of the results to reach unsupportable conclusions about students, teachers, and schools.”

“As seen with the budget debacle earlier this month, New Yorkers know when the ‘Albany Fix’ is in,” Eric Mihelbergel, Erie County public school parent and NYSAPE founding member. Mihelbergel went on to say, “We know that the opt out movement will ultimately invalidate the data and render these test scores useless. When some schools have opt outs as high as 70%, we know that any claims that opt out is “random” and that only a small sampling of test scores will yield usable data is illogical.”

To ensure clarity for all, NYSAPE calls for the following from the NYS Legislature & Board of Regents and will release a more comprehensive list in the near future:

1. A dramatic reduction of testing in grades 3rd – 8th, along with reasserting New York State’s authority to determine the education of its children by calling on the US Congress to reduce testing requirements and return to grade span testing. As former President Bill Clinton said we don’t need annual testing, “I think doing one [test] in elementary school, one in the end of middle school and one before the end of high school is quite enough if you do it right.”

2. Chancellor Tisch must immediately step down.

3. An independent review of the NYS career and college ready standards to ensure that standards are research based and appropriate. Establish a taskforce including parents, educators, and stakeholders to study the Common Core Learning Standards and make recommendations to adjust and adopt NYS standards.

4. Adhere to a public and transparent process for selecting a new NYS Commissioner of Education.

5. Fix the Cuomo budget legislation debacle by passing legislation that decouples student test scores and restores local board of education control over teacher evaluations.

6. Pass legislation that REQUIRES parental consent to share ANY identifiable student data beyond school district administrators.

We want to restore our classrooms with a well-rounded education and drive testing compliance factory reforms out of our classrooms forever.

###

– See more at: http://www.nysape.org/nysape-pr-ny-parents-have-spoken.html#sthash.WPxXvbWx.dpuf

Categories New York, Opt Out, Parents, Standardized Testing

Jeanette Deutermann, The Parent Who Created Opt Out on Long Island Reflects

By dianeravitch
April 23, 2015 //
26

Jeanette Deutermann is a parent who lives on Long Island. She launched the nation’s biggest opt out movement in her community. It was all grassroots. Here she reflects on the dramatic spread of the movement. It started with a few determined individuals. As Margaret Mead said, that’s the way all movements begin.

Jeanette writes:

We have truly accomplished something amazing, regardless of numbers and stats. We have empowered parents and made ordinary citizens feel that they have a voice in their communities. We have turned everyday moms and dads into political and education activists who know more about their government and our education system than most politicians and education department leaders. We have taught teachers how to be unionists. And we have taught kids how to be Upstanders!!! You guys are amazing. It has been my greatest pleasure to be on this journey with each and every one of you. Thank you.

I am reflecting tonight on how far we have come. This started with a simple idea. An idea that our children should love to learn. That our schools should be a place of creativity, passion, and inspired learning. We had all felt that something just “wasn’t quite right”. We spoke to each other. We met in coffee houses. We held meeting in each other’s homes. We went to forums at our local libraries, community centers, and schools. We listened to our children’s educators who spend every day with our children. We educated ourselves and each other. We talked to our children.

More importantly we LISTENED to our children, and we finally HEARD our children. They had been asking for our help all along and we just didn’t know it. We do now, and nothing is going to stop us.

We should all be so very proud of ourselves. This has not been easy, but I promise you, your efforts will be rewarded. The entire country is watching us, seeing what a few parents, that turned into 50, that turned into 1,000, that turned into an army of moms, dads, students, community members, and teachers, can accomplish. You all amaze me. You have shown courage, perserverence, and support to me and each other, and I thank you all for believing that your child’s education is worth fighting for.

The domination of high-stakes standardized tests in our education system will end. Our work is far from over, but what we have accomplished in two short years is simply amazing!! The era of education plans made without parent, student, and educator involvement is coming to an end. We are awake. We are aware. We are Upstanders. There is nothing we cannot accomplish together. A special thank you to my team of liaisons, who are the key to the success we have had on Long Island. The legislature spoke on April 1st with their plan for our children’s education. We answer as we raise our collective voices to say “WE DO NOT CONSENT”!!!! In gratitude and solidarity….

–

Categories Opt Out, Resistance

State May Have Power to Withhold Federal Funding to Punish Opt Outs

By dianeravitch
April 22, 2015 //
53

New York State may have the discretion to withhold federal funds from districts where more than 5% of students didn’t take the annual tests. Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch continues to assert that nearly 200,000 children refused the tests because of a dispute between the labor unions and the governor. Parents groups who have advocated for opting out as a protest against top-down decision-making and over-reliance on standardized testing insist that their actions were not influenced by the unions.

ALBANY—State education officials appear to have some discretion over whether districts or schools lose federal funding because of this month’s unprecedented boycott of standardized testing.

State officials had previously suggested that the matter was out of their hands. Representatives for the U.S. Department of Education and the state Education Department have said the federal government could withhold Title I funds—grants for schools that serve low-income students—if fewer than 95 percent of students in an individual school or district take the tests, and Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday also said the federal government holds the power to decide whether to withhold funding.

Some parents have indicated that any effort to punish them or their children or their schools will inflame the opt out movement and help it grow.

But public statements and regulatory guidance from both the U.S. and state education departments suggest the decision is not totally up to the feds.

“They [federal officials] seem to indicate—I’m hearing that we have discretion, but we will find out how much discretion we have,” state Board of Regents chancellor Merryl Tisch told Capital on Tuesday. “If we do have discretion, we intend to use it.”

Tisch has said she hopes students won’t be punished for a disagreement among adults, attributing the so-called “opt out” movement to the fight between the state and teachers’ unions over controversial performance evaluations. According to unofficial totals compiled by parent activists, more than 100,000 children refused state English language arts tests last week, and the so-called “opt out” movement will likely continue when math exams start today.

Tisch said if it were up to her, she wouldn’t withhold funds. She acknowledged, though, that taking no action could further fuel the test refusal movement, validating the arguments of parent activists who have called officials’ warnings about funding cuts empty threats and an example of fear mongering.

Categories Funding, New York, Opt Out

Peter Greene Wants Governor Cuomo to Show Some Love to Children Who Opt Out

By dianeravitch
April 22, 2015 //
14

Peter Greene has an insight: Governor Andrew Cuomo declared his love for charter schools, which enroll about 91,000 students. Will he now become a champion for parents and students who opt out of testing? They numbered somewhere between 170,000 and 200,000. That’s twice as many students as are enrolled in charter schools.

Peter Greene thinks the Governor should show them twice as much love.

Categories Charter Schools, Cuomo, Andrew, Opt Out

Retired Superintendent: Opt Out

By dianeravitch
April 22, 2015 //
9

Sometimes, people have to retire to speak candidly. A reader in Néw York left this comment:

 

“I am a retired Superintendent. If my kids were still in school they would not waste their time taking these tests–and I would encourage the friends of their parents to have their children opt out. These are terrible assessments that are used for very inappropriate purposes. Do not feed the Tisch/Cuomo testing machine–take your child to a museum when other kids are being tested–and make clear to administrators that under no circumstances are your kids to be taken out of class for make up exams!”

Categories New York, Opt Out, Standardized Testing

BAT Leader Explains to Chancellor Tisch Why New York Tests Have NO Diagnostic Value

By dianeravitch
April 22, 2015 //
21

Marla Kilfoyle is a National Board Certified Teacher and a leader of the Badass Teachers Association. She is also the parent of a 12-year-old public school student. She was surprised to hear Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch say that teachers and parents need the state tests because of their diagnostic value. In this post, she explains to Chancellor Tisch why the state tests have no diagnostic value. Her post contains a typical state test report to parents. It was returned months after the test, when the student has a new teacher. It has scores on it, but no description of the student’s weaknesses or strengths in any particular area. In the example she gives, the parents learn that their child scored a 1, the lowest ranking, but nothing about where the child needs extra help.

She compares the lack of diagnostic information on the New York State report to another test administered to students. It is called WIAT (Wechsler Individual Test). This test breaks down each student’s test performance on specific skills. It is returned to parents in less than a month. (The WIAT is owned by Pearson, which also created the non-informative New York annual tests.)

Kilfoyle is upset by Chancellor Tisch’s description of the opt out movement as a labor dispute. The many thousands of parents whose children refused the tests were not acting on behalf of the teachers’ union. They were acting as parents concerned about subjecting their children to a useless test.

Categories Opt Out, Parents, Pearson, Standardized Testing

Two Long Island Superintendents Explain the Reasons for the Opt Out Movement

By dianeravitch
April 22, 2015 //
15

Steve Cohen and David Gamberg are highly respected superintendents on Long Island. In this post, they explain why so many parents object to the current climate of high-stakes testing. With leaders like Cohen and Gamberg, who think that students need and deserve a real education, you can understand why Long Island is the epicenter of the Opt Out movement in New York and perhaps in the nation. Their article appeared in the Suffolk Times-Review, a local newspaper on Long Island; I should not quote so much of it, but it is such a powerful article that I could not resist. Open the link and read it all. Both of these superintendents, by the way, are already members of the blog’s honor roll.

 

They begin:

 

A mere four years ago, and for decades prior, one could not find any substantial evidence of students opting-out of standardized testing. At first glance, the current, heated, conflict over state testing and the “opt-out” movement appears to be a dispute between those who believe in and those who dispute the value of state tests. But this conflict goes deeper. It is a conflict about what is good for children and adolescents, about how children learn and thrive, and about how to raise young people to enter into and contribute to their communities as mature members of a democratic society.

 

Those who support testing contend that facing tests, and the concomitant adversity that one might experience (even if the test is developmentally inappropriate) are a part of life. To do otherwise is considered weak, and represents a failure to develop the “grit” necessary to fully engage in life’s challenges. For these people, it is inconceivable that locally developed assessments — perhaps even more purposeful and useful assessments — could accomplish that very same goal. Living in a culture of fear as we do, many people believe that it is necessary to impose carefully guarded secret tests from above to make sure that we hold incompetent adults — untrustworthy teachers and administrators — accountable for the abject failure of some children who graduate from our public schools….

 

They write that the so-called reformers,  like Governor Cuomo and the Legislature, are fixated on basic skills and compliance with the demands of the state. What they care very little about is the broader, civic and humane purposes of education.

 

Broad learning in the arts as well as in the sciences, in literature as well as in history, economics, psychology, plus athletics, independent study and community service, is a notion that seems to be beyond the scope of this version of school improvement. Indeed, to reformers, failure to create a “live to work” system of public education will mean that the next generation will not be able to “compete” with young people in other countries for good jobs. In particular, these education reformers believe that African-American, Hispanic, and poor children generally are most at risk if these reforms are not adopted immediately — despite the cruel fact that these tests have increased the “performance gap” between poor and middle class children. People who believe in this “reform” conception of public education insist that current state tests are absolutely necessary to help children learn what they need to know.

 

Many defenders of current state tests also find it morally reprehensible to break the rules, even if the rules support a broken system. To be an agent of change, and seek to be in favor of a better system is considered wrong and virtually un-American to these people. The system is what it is, and everyone should be quiet and obey the rules. Our founding fathers, who were patriots, would have had a hard time understanding why they risked their lives to establish our democracy if they believed that adherence to the official way of doing things could not be challenged. We would suspect that the likes of Washington, Franklin and Jefferson would do far more than simply opt-out of tests.

 

People who reject these ideas believe they have no other way to express their dislike of this conception of public education than to deny reformers the “data” needed to keep education reforms moving ahead, by refusing to have their children take these tests. The governor and the Legislature have ignored the deeply felt beliefs of hundreds of thousands of parents who believe that public education is too complex, and too important to the future of their children, to be characterized adequately by a wooden, mechanical conception of childhood development.

 

They believe that education must be more than the crimped enterprise of getting young people ready for future jobs that may well not even materialize. People who “opt” their children out of these tests believe that public education should not deny young people broad exposure to the deep intellectual and moral heritage of modern democratic society; it should not dismiss local traditions of providing community service; it should not ignore the immense variety among young people’s interests, abilities and needs. Underlying the “opt-out” movement is the belief that there are many highly successful school systems around the state that have taught children to read, write and learn mathematics at the highest levels for decades, while also providing these children with serious exposure to science, history, various arts, athletics and a host of meaningful community experiences. Underlying the “opt-out” movement is recognition of the reality that helping poor children cannot be done by testing them. Underlying the “opt-out” movement is the belief that teachers by and large have contributed greatly to the high-level achievements of countless public school students. Underlying the “opt-out” movement is the belief that a simplistic and suffocating approach to improving education is bad for children — all of them. People who reject these “reform” ideas wonder why the reformers themselves send their children to private schools that work more or less the way hundreds of successful public schools work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Opt Out, Real Education, Standardized Testing

Arne Duncan Threatens to Step In if Opt Outs Continue to Grow

By dianeravitch
April 22, 2015 //
205

Arne Duncan’s response to the many thousands of parents who are now opting out of state testing is typical of his past remarks about “white suburban moms” who are disappointed to learn that their children are not so brilliant after all, or teachers and parents who have been “lying” to their children by praising their mediocre school performance. He basically says they should get over it and do what the state and federal government tells them to do and stop coddling their children. He doesn’t coddle his children, why should they?

 

In an interview, he said that the federal government might have to step in if states have too many opt outs. Duncan has been touting the virtues of the Common Core and of the two tests that he funded—PARCC and SBAC–and he can’t understand why parents don’t want their children to take them.

 

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday that the federal government is obligated to intervene if states fail to address the rising number of students who are boycotting mandated annual exams.
Duncan’s comments come as an “opt out” advocacy group in New York reports that more than 184,000 students statewide out of about 1.1 million eligible test takers refused to take last week’s English exams. In New York City, nearly 3,100 students out of about 420,000 test takers opted out, according to the group.

 

The number of opt outs in New York more than tripled over last year.

 

Those estimates suggesting that more than 15 percent of students refused to take the tests have raised questions about the consequences for districts. Federal law requires all students in grades three to eight to take annual tests, and officials have said districts could face sanctions if fewer than 95 percent of students participate. On Tuesday, when asked whether states with many test boycotters would face consequences, Duncan said he expected states to make sure districts get enough students take the tests.
“We think most states will do that,” Duncan said during a discussion at the Education Writers Association conference in Chicago. “If states don’t do that, then we have an obligation to step in.”
Duncan also said that students in some states are tested too much, and acknowledged that the exams are challenging for many students. But he argued that annual standardized exams are essential for tracking student progress and monitoring the score gap between different student groups.
He also said the tests are “just not a traumatic event” for his children, who attend public school in Virginia.
“It’s just part of most kids’ education growing up,” he said. “Sometimes the adults make a big deal and that creates some trauma for the kids.”

 

Categories Duncan, Arne, Opt Out, Standardized Testing
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