Testing ‘opt-outs’ create quandaries for schools

Second of two parts.

Two weeks ago, the Herald detailed new English and math standardized tests that New York’s public and charter schools gave to students in grades three to eight last month. In this report, the Herald continues an examination of how “opting out” from the tests could affect the students who did so and their schools.

The new exams are based on the Common Core State Standards, a curriculum that most states adopted in recent years with prompting by the Obama administration. The Common Core’s goal, according to the New York State Department of Education, is to increase academic rigor to ensure that students are college- and career-ready when they graduate from high school. NCS Pearson, a subsidiary of the British multinational corporation Pearson PLC, received a five-year, $32 million contract from the state to create the English and math tests. Beginning next May, Pearson will also handle New York’s teacher-certification tests.

A testing rate requirement

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires at least 95 percent student participation in standardized tests from schools — taken both as a whole and across several subcategories, from grade levels to racial and ethnic groups. The law considers schools that are below the threshold to have failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress.

David Feller, the North Merrick School District superintendent, discussed the potential consequences of not achieving AYP at a March 12 North Merrick Board of Education meeting. “If you’re on the AYP list for two years, then you get on to what’s called the ‘needs-improvement list,’” Feller said. “That’s a published list in the state. And, actually, any school report card is publishable. In any given year, if the school doesn’t make the expected progress, that’s noted.”

He said some would argue that such a scarlet letter against a school could hurt property values. “Once you’re on the ‘needs improvement list,’ then you have to develop a formal plan of intervention that’s monitored closely by the state,” Feller said. “Quite frankly, it’s not something I would look forward to.”