Seeking to stem the opt-out movement

Penalties include loss of aid and being labeled; Public comment deadline is Aug. 1

Posted

In an effort to halt the high rate of students not taking standardized state tests — known as the opt-out movement — U.S. Education Secretary John B. King Jr., the former New York State Education Commissioner, wants to penalize schools with the “needs improvement” designation.

Schools that have more than 5 percent of students refusing to take the tests would be required to create ways to increase participation. Schools would be assigned a cumulative rating using letter grades A, B. C, D or F or the designations excellent or failing in assessing academic performance based on tests results and graduation rates.

King’s proposed regulations are in sync to support the newly implemented federal legislation Every Student Succeeds Act that became law in December, which details academic requirements for schools that are tied to more than $14 billion in annual funding for education. U.S. Education Department officials said in December that schools risked the loss of financial aid if testing participation rates were below 95 percent.

“It’s important for us to know where we have achievement gaps. It’s important for us to know where our students are making progress,” King said previously in defense of academic achievement testing. The new rules could be approved next month.

The possible punishment for opting out hits home on Long Island, where the opt-out movement grows every school year. Locally, this past school year, 61 percent out of the 1,333 students in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District who should have taken the state English Language Arts exam did not. Last year it was 46 percent of eligible students.

“I do not believe it is fair. Schools and districts should not be labeled in such a misleading fashion,” said Mark Secaur, Hewlett-Woodmere’s deputy superintendent who is in charge of curriculum and instruction. “We have to respect the decision parents make for their children. Whether our students opted to take the tests or not, we have worked to accommodate them.”

The percent of students opting out in Lawrence schools is lower but is increasing. Out of the 1,138 students eligible to take the ELA this year, 25 percent didn’t. That was up from 11 percent last year.

Dr. Ann Pedersen, Lawrence’s deputy superintendent who also oversee’s curriculum and instruction, said that the tests are to enlighten educators about student needs and if they can be “designed to do that effectively and efficiently,” then the students should benefit.

“The opt-out movement has great momentum, especially on Long Island. As school administrators, we must show parents the connection of tests to student improvement,” Pedersen said. “If we can change the conversation to mastering skills and how to support students, teachers, district and schools, we will be successful in building the trust needed for parents to confidently have their children take and learn from the tests.”

Secaur said that the district believes strongly that it provides an “excellent education” and it would irresponsible to label a district or school in need of improvement and it would be “unfortunate and not reflective of reality. “I would ask Secretary King to focus his efforts on restoring the public’s trust in student assessment,” Secaur said.

Having been to several training session with King, Pedersen said she appreciates his passion and “sense of urgency” to improve education. “I would ask him to help districts create a growth mindset in staff and students by normalizing error, and allowing testing to be an opportunity to try again for mastery, not to have testing use labels that are fixed and negative.”

Public comment is being collected until Aug. 1. Go to regulations.gov and search for Elementary Act of 1965, As Amended by the Accountability and State Plans.

Have an opinion about this topic? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.