Parents, teachers push ‘opt out,’ with different goals
ALBANY—Teachers’ unions are leveraging an unprecedented statewide protest of standardized testing in public schools as their latest weapon in a war with Governor Andrew Cuomo over education reform—whether the parent activists who began the so-called “opt out” movement like it or not.
When New York State United Teachers president Karen Magee last month announced the union’s support for the testing boycott, she said her intention was to undermine the state’s teacher evaluation system, which Cuomo and lawmakers made more stringent in the recently approved state budget.
Parents whose activism led tens of thousands of children to refuse state exams last year say the teachers’ unions are welcome to join their cause, but are concerned about the possibility that the focus of their movement will shift from children to adults.
“Are the teachers jumping in on this, the fight that we set up, to try to save themselves? I hope not,” said Jacqueline Lyon, a Suffolk County mother whose son is in third grade. “I want to fight for teachers, too, and I am so glad that they are a part of this. But the No. 1 priority is to save the kids.”
This year’s state exams, which third through eighth graders will begin taking this week, immediately follow a bitter battle between Cuomo and teachers’ unions over evaluations as well as tenure, merit pay and turnaround strategies for chronically underperforming schools.
Just before the March 31 budget deadline, when it became clear that lawmakers would approve a new evaluation system that relies more heavily on state exams, NYSUT joined the “opt out” push, arguing if enough students refuse the tests, they won’t be statistically reliable for use as part of the rating system.
NYSUT then enlisted political allies to help fuel the fire. The Working Families Party, along with advocacy groups Alliance for Quality Education and Citizen Action, sent out emails encouraging the boycott.
Democratic lawmakers, who are closely aligned with teachers' unions but have mixed opinions on whether to support the movement, argued nevertheless that this year’s testing boycott would send a specific message to the State Board of Regents: Minimize the impact of test scores in teacher evaluations.
“The ‘opt out’ movement is going to help deliver that message that we must get the pressure off the tests … particularly as it relates to [teacher evaluations],” said Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, an Albany Democrat.
“If the Board of Regents does a better job this time in implementing the law, this ‘opt out’ might serve a purpose,” said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, a Westchester Democrat. “Why it took this extreme for them to wake up, I don’t know.”
Parent groups have different goals, though.
In a series of interviews with Capital, members said they want to decrease the amount of time students spend preparing for and taking tests, and ultimately, reverse course on the use of the Common Core standards.
New York adopted the curriculum guidelines for English and math in 2010 and began testing students based on the more difficult material in 2013, years before most other states. While state education officials maintain that the standards are necessary to prepare students for success in college and careers, they admit that the implementation was flawed. Test refusal, which has spread rapidly via social media, has been one of parents' most powerful methods of protest.
Some parents said they were concerned unions’ involvement would shift attention away from children.
“Let’s face it: A teacher is an adult,” said Michael Panessa, a suburban Rochester parent who began home schooling his children this year because of what he described as an overemphasis on testing. “A teacher can go get another job. They already have an Parents, teachers push 'opt out,' with different goals | Capital New York: