Thousands of NYC families will boycott state math, reading exams: activists
SUSAN WATTS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thousands of city families will boycott the state’s math and reading exams, according to activists who oppose testing.
Thousands of city families will boycott the state’s math and reading exams, which begin April 14, according to activists who oppose standardized testing in the public schools.
The exams are used in decisions to promote students, rate teachers and evaluate schools. They are not mandatory, but many teachers spend weeks preparing students for them.
But critics say the tests are too difficult to accurately measure academic achievement and they take up too much valuable teaching time.
“More and more parents are interested and aware and talking about opting out,” said Leonie Haimson, founder of the education advocacy group Class Size Matters.
“More and more parents are interested and aware and talking about opting out,” said Leonie Haimson, founder of the education advocacy group Class Size Matters. “We’re certainly encouraging parents to opt out.”
State reading and math exams are administered to grades three-through-eight over six days in April. Students who opt out of the tests are given alternate lessons.
There are no penalties for refusing the tests, but relatively few parents have opted for their children to skip the exams, city Education Department officials said.
In 2014, just 1,925 city students opted out of either one of the state reading or math tests given to students in grade three to eight.
That number represented less than 1% of all students tested that year, but it included only kids who attended school on the days of the exams and formally refused them.
Activists don’t yet know how many families will opt out of the tests this year, but at some schools large portions of families have said they’ll boycott the tests.
At influential Public School 321 in Park Slope, parent activists said a quarter of families have signed letters saying they would refuse the tests this year.
Chancellor Carmen Fariña has encouraged students to participate in the exams but has also said the decision to take a test or not is a family matter.
Chancellor Carmen Fariña has encouraged students to participate in the exams but has also said the decision to take a test or not is a family matter.
David Rosenberg said his daughter Julia, who attends fifth grade Public School 3 in the West Village, will be sitting out the state exams this year.
“We are emphatically refusing to test,” said Rosenberg, who works in IT. “Any politician who says they are doing this to save the kids is a liar. It’s all political. It’s not about the kids.”NYC families to boycott state math, reading exams: activists - NY Daily News:
