Opting out: helping or hurting?

Are students opting out or taking the state tests? That’s become the annual question in school districts across New York state, including Hewlett-Woodmere and Lawrence.
The state English Language Arts exam was administered this week to third- through eighth-grade students. The math test will be given to those students next week.
For the past three years, the tests have been aligned with the Common Core State Standards. At the same time, a movement promoting the refusal to take them has grown. The implementation of the Common Core standards has been widely criticized, with many administrators, educators and parents saying they feel left out of the process.
Woodmere resident Julie Levine, a teacher herself, is allowing her daughter, Ruby, a freshman at Lawrence High School, to take the state Regents exams, but is adamant about opting out of the state assessments. As an eighth-grader last school year, Ruby didn’t take the state ELA or math test.
“These [Regents] exams are needed to graduate with a Regents diploma, and are also viewed by college admission officers,” Julie said. “I have no problem with my daughter taking Regents, as I feel they accurately access the content area being taught at the high school.”
Levine said that her opposition to the state tests has only strengthened. “In addition to the negative effects they have upon children, they are also being utilized to assess teachers,” she said. “Right now the tests count as 20 percent of a teacher’s final assessment score. If Governor Cuomo has his way, they’ll account for 50 percent.”
At Hewlett-Woodmere, students who opt out are allowed to read quietly in the testing area. They can refuse the test with a letter of permission from a parent right up until the test is given. District officials said it was difficult to predict the number of students who would refuse to take the exams.