Student 'Opt-Outs' Still Increasing Even After Test Revisions

Just last Tuesday, there are still quite a number of students from third to eighth grade who opted out from the English Language Arts test across the lower Hudson Valley in New York City. Even though the standardized ELA test was already revised, a lot of parents and educators still think that it isn't enough.

Based on early reports, there was no significant change in number of students who opted out last April compared to this year with the new revised ELA test. There are schools who gave out their numbers voluntarily last Tuesday but some schools declined and said that the numbers should be reported to the board of education first.

To those schools who reported their number approximately has 44,000 students in total and about 24 percent of students did not take the test. According to Lohud page, a mother of two and an elementary school teacher, Jansen Barron said that the test is meaningless which takes his son away from the appropriate methods of learning. It just won't do any good for his son, said Barron.

The statement coming from an educator seems that the Common Core Standardized Test isn't really going to get all parents and educators convinced. The act of opting out from the tests is a way of voicing out the dissatisfaction of those who opposed the Common Core, said Kristopher Harrison, Irvington schools' Superintendent.

Harrison said, "I believe that the test refusal data reflects the parents' lack of confidence in (the state Education Department) ­­and the legislated correlation with teacher evaluation," He added, "While the adjustments that have been made to assessments are steps in the right direction, there is a long way to go to right this ship."

Lohud page or The Journal News have found in their survey last year that in average, there are 20 percent of students opting out from the tests in Lower Hudson Valley specifically in Rockland, Westchester and Putnam counties.

As reported by The Christian Science Monitor, the opting out movement of students influenced by their parents are not going to go away. It may increase over time. The parents believe that the new standardized test is just stressful and exhausting to students. For them, it's a kind of a major decision-making from the board of education or schools without getting or gathering any input from the community.