Parents failing the test
The good news: Living up to a promise made in the heat of the Common Core backlash, New York State’s top eduwonks are overhauling learning standards. And, to pacify a rebellion that last year saw more than 265,000 students across the state sit out standardized, statewide English and math exams, those same eduwonks have bent over backward to make current tests better and less anxiety-producing.
The bad news: Though the wave urging kids to opt out of standardized tests has crested in many parts of the state as a result, kids on Long Island are still sitting out in droves.
In Nassau and Suffolk Counties in March, more than 50% boycotted English exams. This week, similar numbers there said no to math tests.
Which is to say, a hardened handful of moms and dads, bent on protecting their schools’ reputations and their precious dears’ egos, are making increasingly clear that they’re not against specific standards and tests; they’re against all standards, all tests and all school accountability.
Years ago, when the opt-out movement began, parents reported that their boys and girls were being tortured by nonsensical questions and withering under the pressure of too-high stakes.
Teachers added another grievance: The changes were all coming too fast, before anyone could really get up to speed.
We were skeptical, but state policymakers, including Gov. Cuomo and state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, took the complaints to heart. And made concession after concession.
In conjunction with the Board of Regents, the department shortened the tests; released threequarters of the previous year’s questions; eliminated time limits, and had every single question get a once-over by at least 22 teachers in the relevant subject area.
That’s not all. While the state rethought the existing Common Core standards, it pledged to hold all teachers harmless. And ease up on consequences for kids, too.
Some of that was overkill — but no one could honestly claim that the thorn remained stuck in the paw.
As for the standards, more than 130 educators and parents revealed their handiwork this week.
New guidelines change the order in which students will learn various things, to ensure that little ones aren’t force-fed certain concepts too soon. Statistics and algebra get moved around. Kids will be further encouraged to become lifelong readers and writers. And more.
A bunch of good-faith, thoughtful fixes. That the hardened enemies of all standards and testing will completely ignore, to their kids’ deep disservice.