CHENANGO COUNTY – The test refusal movement is sending a clear message to New York State legislators that something in public education needs to change, and with math testing set to start today, that message is expected to grow even louder.
According to New York State Allies for Public Education, more than 184,000 students from across the state refused the grades 3-8 English and Language Arts test last week, although the education advocacy group doesn’t expect final numbers to be tallied until this summer. The organization is counting the number of test refusals district by district; and to date, only 72 percent of districts have reported. With math testing that begins today, it’s anticipating even higher figures.
In Chenango County, no school has had a louder voice than Sherburne-Earlville, with a whopping 367 (or 64 percent) of its students refusing the ELA test. That might be attributed to teachers’ unions own objections to the test.
In January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed tying 50 percent of New York State teacher evaluation scores to test outcomes – a measure that passed with the state budget earlier this month. Since the governor announced his proposal, Sherburne-Earlville has staged several community forums and protests, garnering an extra boost from the New York State Unified Teachers union (NYSUT) as well as a strong grassroots local advocacy group.
In the Bainbridge-Guilford School District, 87 students reportedly refused the ELA test. Another 50 students refused in Greene. And the Afton School District reported that 11 percent of students grades 3-4 refused; 16 percent in grades 5-6; and 22 percent in grades 7-8.
At the Unadilla Valley Central School, 44 students (12.39 percent) refused the ELA test last week, and while UV Superintendent Robert Mackey said it was never the purpose of the state tests to evaluate teachers’ performance, he stressed that the test itself still has a lot of merit.
“This test was never written with an intent to evaluate teachers,” he said. “It was with the intent to evaluate curriculum, instruction and student needs. That was the idea behind the annual assessment.”
Mackey added the goal of UV has been to filter out the politics behind testing and instead, focus on using the test as a tool to better its curriculum. Though state tests are written in accordance with Common Core standards, school districts have flexibility in the way their curriculum is developed in order to meet those standards. “One of the things we have done is downplay the level of student scores,” said Mackey. “Instead, we look more at the adjusted growth percentile score for every student. That’s the key.”
He added, “If a certain number of kids opt out, then the test loses validity of a tool to improve the curriculum. The more kids that take this test, the better data we have to improve.”
Last year, NYS Allies for Public Education says approximately 60,000-70,000 students (or less than 5 percent of the total) students refused Common Core math and ELA tests in the state. It is expecting record numbers this year.