Students opting out of standardized tests on Tuesday, the first day of exams, may have reached more than 100,000, an activist group said.
That would surpass the 65,000 opt outs last year.
The group, United to Counter, culled its figures from news reports and reports from local officials within the state's nearly 700 school districts. It said it could account for about 35 percent of districts.
As more districts become accounted for, the 100,000 figure is expected to rise.
And that's not the only increase expected.
Full opt-out numbers for the 3rd-8th grade ELA exams can't be calculated until the completion of all three days of testing:
“It is important to note that state testing takes place over multiple days,” wrote Williamsville schools spokeswoman Rita M. Wolff. “Tuesday, April 14 was the first of three days for administering the ELA state assessment. An accurate number of non-test takers will not be known until the completion of the multi-day testing period.”
The ELA exam finishes tomorrow, next week the math exams will be given on Wednesday through Friday.
Opt-out proponents had hoped for 250,000 test refusals when all was said and done.
It will be interesting to see what the total number of opt outs from both the ELA and math tests will be when it's all over.
100,000? That is it? I do NOT want to sound like a Debbie Downer but that is is not going to sway Cuomo to do anything. There is one million students in NYC alone. Cuomo is Hell bent on his ed-deform agenda and is on a mission the break the "monopoly" of public education. I hope and pray I am wrong but I do not see this changing anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteThat's day one from 35% of the districts.
DeleteThere will be significantly higher numbers by the end of the three days of the ELA testing.
Even higher by the end of math.
DeleteCuomo won't be swayed by opt out in regards to teacher evals. Period. He will be swayed to change/modify/cut
Deletetesting to make parents behind opt out quiet, but his teacher-destroying will continue.
Some hopeful teachers would argue that if the data is rendered useless by opt out then his eval system falls to pieces. Well the presumption there is that the "data" produced by these tests
meant something to him in the first place. Newsflash: he doesn't care about the tests or the data. It was just his (andante reformers) way to legitimize and make his teacher destroying seem rationalized and scientific. Everyone knows that's BS as does he. All he will do now is more flagrantly push his agenda without so much of a "scientific" fascade. Please stop thinking that opt out is going to send Cuomo to the hills and that he will back off or give up on his eval system. He won't.
No one thinks opt out is going to send Cuomo to the hills. It has put the edu-establishment on the major defensive however and that's important.
DeleteIt may have put the edu-establishment on the major defensive but there is no offensive when it comes to law. The edu-establishment makes and implements the law. The edu-establishment is currently in the pockets of the big business testing/charter movement. Until the money of big business is no longer a viable bait for the edu-establishment there will be no change to the destruction of the teaching profession in this country. Yes, the opt out movement is awesome but it will not help teachers put food on the table or roof over their heads until the ed-deformers can be 100% certain that there is no dollars to be made in education. Right now that is NOT the case.
DeleteAgreed. But what's the larger plan/play here for us? Hope the eval system fails?
ReplyDeleteI think we need to start talking about/organizing around large scale blue flu or something. I dunno. Few options on table and going quietly to a 3020A shouldn't be one of them. We had a NYSUT LRS talk to us (we are doing a contract) last evening. All she did is read the big points of the new law and say after every one "....we don't know." More than a decade of union dues for NYSUT to know have an F'ing clue. And she had nothing to say about any kind of response except "contact your legislators."
The first action we need to take is to show hijack the apparatus of NYSUT from its leadership.
I've said this before...if all hope is lost for this profession, lets get that out there and stated. Lets be clear now. Because if that's so ALOT of people need to start the hard work of finding their lifeboats, whatever those will be. I initially said it as a snarky throw-away, but now maybe Im serious: perhaps the best use of what remains of NYSUT is liquidation and using whatever that yields to pay for career change guidance and counseling for NYSUT membership. No joke.
ReplyDeleteIf you watch this interview of Madame Tisch you will reach the same conclusion that I have--the woman has gone off the deep end.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.twcnews.com/nys/capital-region/capital-tonight-interviews/2015/04/15/merryl-tisch-041515.html
Unfortunately, NYSED upper leadership now completely lacks a leader who has worked in public education as Cosimo Tangorra will be resigning shortly. The segment of the tape where she whines about her "Mommy" criticizing her parenting illustrates the point that we cannot permit this person to remain in charge. Tisch must go--in truth, she deserves the same treatment as Marie Antoinette!