Forum speakers say ‘opt-out’

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They all had different ways to say it, but the message was clear: opt out of Common Core tests. Two teachers, two administrators and a parent told the more than 300 people at Levittown Hall in Hicksville that the only way to send a message to Gov. Andrew Cuomo was to refuse to let their children take the third through eighth grade English language arts and math tests in April.

The March 16 forum was one of many that NYS Allies for Public Education has organized throughout the state. All of the speakers noted how turnout — and Common Core opposition — had grown since last year’s round of rallies. Pins, posters and copies of the opt-out form were on desks at the back of the room.

Principal Carol Burris of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, the first to speak, talked about the “five lies of Common Core.”

1. Proficiency is an objective reality. If children do not reach it, there is something wrong with them and their teacher. “Proficiency is arbitrary,” Burris said. “It has been manipulated, in my opinion, to create the illusion of mass failure… And they have done it by linking the so-called proficiency scores to some very dubious anchors.” She said that the proficiency standards were based on SAT scores, which are not the best predictor of college success, on an unfavorable curve where a 710 on the math section is equivalent to a B minus grade.

2. Common Core standards are true measures of college readiness. “The idea that you can create a test to determine if a 9-year-old is on the road to college readiness is absolutely absurd,” Burris said.

3. The amount of testing in grades 3-8 has not increased due to Common Core. Burris said the number of tests had not increased, but the time taking tests had gone up. Third graders, she said, spent 160 minutes in tests in 2009 — in 2013, they spent 420 minutes.

4. Children opting out of tests make schools lose federal funds. “Rockville Centre has not met the 95 percent [test participation] threshold for two years,” said Burris. “We have not lost a penny.”

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