Kingston math opt-outs at 44 percent

“It does hamper that effort, but we are where we are,” he said. “It’s disappointing, but we’re going to use our in-house data to the best of our ability and use the data from the students that did take the tests to the best we can to make sure that we are creating an environment of continuous improvement for our students as far as academic achievement is concerned.”

The superintendent also quelled rumors that some students were rewarded for taking tests with everything from candy to tickets to Mets games. “There was no policy or practice of rewards for students who took tests or punishment for students who didn’t: Our directives were clear to our buildings,” said Padalino.

Students who opted out of tests were moved into different areas of their school where they could work and the students taking the tests could focus on the task at hand.

“We did not have a ‘sit-and-stare,’” Padalino said. “Students who opted out were moved to a different location and had the opportunity to do other work. It was still a school day. Just because someone wasn’t testing we didn’t want them to be in a situation where they’re just sitting doing nothing. We made our best efforts to make sure there was valuable education going on at that time.”

Math refusals increase elsewhere too

Across Ulster, districts saw an increase in parents opting their children out of state Common Core-linked standardized math tests.

The tests — last week in math, the prior week in English Language Arts — are given to students in grades three through eight to measure how well students are absorbing the new and controversial Common Core curricular standards. While they do not count in students’ grades, they are to be used, also controversially, in evaluating teachers. Parents across the state, seemingly having reached a boiling point with standardized testing and the harm many things it does to education, had their kids refuse the tests in large numbers.

In the Onteora district, 69 percent of students didn’t take the math tests, up from the previous week’s ELA refusal rate of 64 percent.

In New Paltz, 69 percent of students were opted out of math tests — 684 out of a total of 998. For the ELA tests, New Paltz had a 62 percent refusal rate at the middle school, plus a 53 percent refusal rate at Lenape, according to Superintendent Maria Rice.

“We’ve had a tremendous number and percentage of students who have refused to take the English Language Arts and mathematics tests,” Rice said. “That is a statewide as well as national phenomenon.”

“For our family, it’s a civil rights issue,” said Kathy Preston of New Paltz, who added that her daughter likes school and tests well, but this was the second straight year they opted out. “The fact that special education students and students with [Individual Education Plans] are not given any accommodations in term of the testing is abominable. I can’t live with that. It’s tantamount to bringing her to a whites-only lunch counter. Just because it’s OK for us doesn’t mean it’s OK all the way around.”

Preston said she was “very excited” by the big wave of opt-outs. “I think it sends a really clear message to the State Education Department about how flawed these tests are and about how much we want to support our educators and how much we want to support our children. … These tests have absolutely nothing to do with an appropriate education.”

New Paltz parent and anti-testing advocate Bianca Tanis said her objections stem from the tests being, she believes, “not developmentally appropriate.”

“They are not used to help the instruction of my child,” she said. “We’re really upset with the way testing drives the pace of instruction,” she added, noting the week before the tests was totally taken up by prepping for the tests.

Tanis attended public school in New York and said there’s a big difference between the education she got and the education her kids are getting. “When I was in school we had lots of science, lots of social studies and field trips. Lots of hands-on learning. Now it’s basically all about ELA and math. Science really happens in the grades after the tests. We have fewer field trips. We had tests … but I don’t think we ever had test prep when I was a kid. Not at nine or ten years old.”

Tanis, pointing out that she and other parents have been resisting testing for three years now, said she wanted to counter the perception that the opt-outs are a union-vs.-Cuomo phenomenon.

“It’s being turned into a political movement and it’s really unfortunate because at the end of the day, it’s for parents. It’s absolutely not about politics. It’s about the well-being of their children. Anybody who wants to paint this as a labor dispute just really doesn’t understand what we’re doing.”

The Saugerties Central School District, after holding off on releasing their refusal numbers, finally divulged them early this week. According to Superintendent Seth Turner, 23 percent of students were opted out of the English Language Arts tests and 30 percent were opted out of the math tests. Both Saugerties district officials and trustees had been vocal in their opposition to the opt-out movement.

The number of Highland Central School District students, in the middle school, at least, who were opted out of the tests this year is estimated to be 50 percent or more, but the exact figures have yet to be calculated. Superintendent Deborah Haab says they will release the numbers after they determine whether every student that didn’t take the test was truly “opting out” or was simply absent that day and willing to take the test.

A Time Warner Cable/Siena College poll taken April 6-9 of 737 upstate registered voters found among those surveyed in the Hudson Valley substantial pushback against Cuomo’s school reforms.

When asked about their level of agreement with assertion that his budget will move the state toward “an education system that rewards results, addresses challenges and demands accountability,” 58 percent of respondents said they disagreed, either somewhat or strongly. When it came to the governor’s gambit of tying his ideas, including changes to the teacher evaluation system putting more weight on standardized tests, to an increase in state funding, 71 percent of the Hudson Valley respondents said the Cuomo’s reforms and funding should be considered separately. But 66 percent agreed with the new rule stating districts must begin the dismissal process if a teacher is found “inadequate” by the new evaluation system three years in a row. Hudson Valley respondents overwhelmingly feel, according to the poll, that standardized tests should count for no more than 25 percent of a teacher’s score — 26 percent said test scores shouldn’t count at all, while 44 percent said they should count about 25 percent.