Parents Get An Earful on Opting Out of the State Tests

The state tests in English and math begin Tuesday, and the conversation is getting loud.  

There have been email blasts, parent forums and at least two robocalls reassuring parents that they have a right to opt their children out of the state assessments. On the flip side, parents are hearing from those who support the assessments. It has made for a confusing time for parents paying attention to the debate, and wondering what to do with their own children.

"We have to know where they're at, which is the purpose of the test," said Camille Artemus, whose daughter attends P.S. 59 William Floyd in Brooklyn. She is a community organizer for Students First New York, a group that strongly supports the governor's education agenda calling for increasing the weight of test scores in teacher evaluations. But Artemus said her main interest in the state tests is making sure her school will maintain high standards for her daughter.

And for those opposed to the test, the decision to refuse them comes from a place of both principle and emotion. Just check the comments section of a segment of The Brian Lehrer Show on opting out of the tests:

"I am not anti-testing. But the quality of these tests, and the purpose for which they are used, makes them meaningless for us and harmful to our education system." 

"I am proud to stand with all the parents who have decided to refuse these tests. But lets not drop out of figuring a way to raise the achievements of our teachers and students because there is always room for growth."

"The tests do not reflect the quality of teaching, and only contribute to a changing classroom culture that suppresses innovation, creativity and an individualized focus on children's needs, in favor of a test-driven curriculum."

Nearly all students in New York City will take the state tests, though the movement to refuse them is growing: Last year, 1,925 students opted out, according to the city's Department of Education. It was a tiny fraction of the roughly 410,000 test-takers in the city, but a significant increase from the 356 students that opted out in 2013. In 2012, 113 students opted out of the tests, education officials said.