N.Y. schools commissioner: It’s ‘unethical’ for educators to support testing opt-out movement
In New York state this past spring, some 20 percent of students refused to take the 2015 state-mandated Common Core standardized tests in math and English language arts, highlighting the growth of a high-stakes testing “opt out” movement around the country. That amounts to more than 200,000 students from grades 3 through 8, with some districts reporting more opt-outs than students sitting for the test.
Last April, Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch warned that school districts could lose funding — either by the federal government or the state — if enough students did not take the tests, and last week, state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia left open the possibility of sanctions. But the New York Times reported Thursday that Tisch said there would be no penalties for students opting out.
Still, the high percentage of opt-outs has apparently upset Elia, who was appointed this past May after being fired without cause as the award-winning superintendent of the Hillsborough County public school district in Florida. On Thursday, she made some controversial comments about the movement, and here’s a post about what she said by Carol Burris, the executive director of the nonprofit Network for Public Education Fund.
Burris retired in June as an award-winning principal at a New York high school, and she is the author of numerous articles, books and blog posts (including on The Answer Sheet) about the botched school reform efforts in her state.
By Carol Burris
I have been called many things during my 62 years on this planet — some nice, some not so nice. Some of the not-so-nice descriptors, such as “nerd” and more recently, “rebel,” I admit I have secretly liked. But I do not at all like the label that new Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia gave me on Thursday – unethical.
I suppose Ms. Elia felt safe to speak her mind before Educators4Excellence,an astroturf group funded in great part by the Gates Foundation. E4E has made it clear that it thinks accountability testing is just swell. Or perhaps she believed that it is brave to come into a new state, without having the experience of giving or reviewing even one cycle of testing, and denounce Opt Out and those who support it in front of the press.
As reported by Chalkbeat New York, Elia said:
“I think opt-out is something that is not reasonable. I am absolutely shocked if, and I don’t know that this happened, but if any educators supported and encouraged opt-outs, I think it’s unethical.”
Well, Ms. Elia, be shocked. I am turning myself in to your ethics squad. I absolutely encouraged the opt-out movement last year. In fact, I did so right here on the Answer Sheet. I don’t think I could have been clearer when I wrote this:
But there comes a time when rules must be broken — when adults, after exhausting all remedies, must be willing to break ranks and not comply. That time is now. The promise of a public school system, however imperfectly realized, is at risk of beingN.Y. schools commissioner: It’s ‘unethical’ for educators to support testing opt-out movement - The Washington Post: