RVC opts out in record numbers

60 percent of testable students decline exam

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More than 1,000 Rockville Centre students — 60 percent of the testable school population — opted out of the New York State ELA test this week, shattering the record that the district had set last year.

Of the 1,668 students eligible to take the Common Core ELA test, 1,005 opted out. The numbers increased with grade, with 80 percent of the eighth grade opting out of the test. Last year, 774 students, or 47 percent who were eligible, didn’t take the exams.

The high number of opt-outs in Rockville Centre mirror a trend across Long Island, where record-numbers of students did not take the tests.

“I think it’s a statement by parents that they’re not going to be pushed around by the state,” said Superintendent Dr. William Johnson.

The district separated the students who opted out from those that were taking the test so that they could be tested without distraction. The opt-out students were taken to different classrooms where they were supervised and still doing work.

“Some principals put together packets for kids to work on, so they could read and do other activates,” Johnson said. “The focus was on reading. They were engaged in meaningful activities.”

Johnson said that the data from the state tests is not used by the district. Instead, the district uses the NWEA exam to determine which students need extra services.

“The state last year passed a law that said we’re not to use the state data for decisions for kids involving placement or promotion. So we don’t,” said Johnson. “I just don’t think the data is reflective of what the school district either does or does not do.”

The high opt-out numbers won’t financially affect the district. Johnson said the district won’t lose funding, and there won’t be any repercussions that he knows of.

Many teachers, however, will not make the minimum-required number of tested students for their APPR evaluations. Johnson doesn’t think it will affect them adversely, though.

“We anticipated problems with these numbers, and so built an APPR system that really minimizes the impact of those numbers on the overall evaluation of a teacher,” he said.

The math assessment begins on April 22. Last year, the opt-out numbers were slightly higher for the math exam than the ELA. The district is expecting something similar this year.