Hundreds opt out of state tests

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Concerned parents from Seaford, Wantagh and Levittown have joined a growing movement across the state to opt their children out of the first round of state assessments in English Language Arts for grades three through eight. The test was given to students in all three districts last week.

In Seaford, 25.8 percent of the students refused the exam out of 1,092 eligible students. In Wantagh, 16.4 percent did so — though that is an approximate number that could include absences from the exam for legitimate illness, district spokeswoman Elizabeth Sobel said. And in Levittown, 541 of 3,300 eligible students refused to take the test — also 16.4 percent.
The second half of the state assessment exams, in math that will be given April 30 to May 2.
The opt-out movement, led locally by Jeanette Deuterman, the founder of a Long Island Opt-Out Facebook page that has more than 15,000 members, has been an outspoken opponent of the state assessments based on the new Common Core State Standards.
“The more I learned, the more I realized there was a problem with the state [Department of Education’s testing policies] and it needs to be addressed now,” Deuterman told the Herald in an earlier interview.
This sentiment has been voiced at numerous school board meetings in Seaford and Wantagh by, among others, Seaford resident Heather Umhofer, who said that excessive testing on a new experimental curriculum is like “building a plane in midair.”
Common Core is an initiative designed to help set a benchmark for nationwide achievement in English and math, and “looks to provide clarity and consistency with what is expected of student learning across the country and state,” its website reads.
“While opting out isn’t a state-recognized option for students scheduled to take state assessments, we respected the decisions of parents who felt that opting out was in the bet interest of their children, and we made every effort to accommodate the needs of students who took the assessments and those who didn’t,” said Seaford Superintendent Brian Conboy.
Last spring was the first time the new state assessment exams were given, and test results showed a decline in math and English proficiency for students in grades three through eight.
Conboy and Wantagh Superintendent Maureen Goldberg reassured residents that the scores did not reflect student ability.
“There is no correlation between these assessment results and our students’ ability to be college- and career-ready,” Goldberg said.
Conboy said the results were “a new starting point from which growth will be expected.”

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