‘Opt-outs’ rise 232 percent in Baldwin

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Perhaps the most vocal Baldwin parent who opposes the assessments is Kathy Perez, a reading teacher in Queens who has three children of testing age at Plaza Elementary School and Baldwin Middle School. Perez launched the Facebook page Baldwin Refuses the Test roughly 18 months ago, after she served as the Baldwin liaison for Long Island Opt Out Info, a Facebook group that has more than 22,000 members. Her children have opted out of the assessments since their implementation — including her youngest, who is now in third grade and refused for the first time last week.

Perez said she opposes the assessments for a number of reasons, but one of the larger issues is that the students are spending more time now preparing for the exams and less time on other subjects. “Anything that isn’t reading and math is being shoved to the side,” she said.

“I want my kids to grow up to do more than just fill in bubbles on a test,” she added. “I want them to grow up to be educated, thinking, well-rounded, confident adults.”

Chris Greer, a music teacher at Plaza and the president of the Baldwin Teachers Association, said that district parents are sending a clear message to lawmakers: They’re fed up with the assessments and want to see changes. Of the many problems Greer has with the assessments, two came to light last week, he said. According to Greer, the tests are developmentally inappropriate, with students asked to read two or three levels higher than they should, and the time provided to complete the passages is insufficient.

One sixth-grade teacher in the district, according to Greer, said that students had to read six passages — each two to three pages long — and answer six or seven questions on each passage. Because time was limited, the teacher said, just two students in the class managed to finish, while the others simply filled in the answer sheet randomly as time was expiring.

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