‘Ignore the score’
LI ed. big gives state tests an ‘F’
Critics claim failure is an option in this Long Island school district.
Outspoken Patchogue-Medford schools Superintendent Michael Hynes in a recent letter encouraged teachers to completely ignore student state test scores — and even suggested tossing the results in the trash.
“This letter is to let you know that I DO NOT CARE what your state growth score is,” the letter read. “Let me be clear ... I DO NOT CARE. It does not define you. You are more than a score.”
Arguing that standardized exams for Grades 3 through 8 are faulty indicators of student ability and place excessive pressure on teachers and kids, Hynes has long backed families who opt out.
He told The Post Thursday that roughly 75 percent of kids in his district decline to sit for the tests, which are supposed to measure academic aptitude.
And of the 25 percent of kids who did take the test in 2017, most scored poorly in both math and English.
For example, at one school in the district, Canaan elementary, only 5 percent of third-graders who took the test were proficient in math and 9 percent in English. At Barton elementary, 9 percent of fourth-graders were scored proficient in math and 19 percent in English.
“The Patchogue-Medford School District fully supports you as an educator, regardless of what this meaningless, invalid and inhumane score states,” Hynes wrote. “You have my permission to throw it out, or use it for any creative ways you may think of.”
Hynes told The Post his district uses more “humane” indicators — including classroom work and projects — to evaluate kids.
“In the United States — and in New York in particular — we have a love affair with these tests,” Hynes said. “A lot of these tests are not valid. It’s about balance, and the pendulum has swung too far in one direction.”
While the exams stir controversy, their material impact on students and teachers has been steadily eroded in recent years.
A teachers-union-backed moratorium on the use of the state test scores in the evaluation of educators will sunset next year and be revisited. Kids who ignore the exams are not penalized.
Critics ripped Hynes’ dismissal of the tests and noted the poor scores among district kids who took the exams last year.
“Superintendent Hynes is essentially saying, ‘Hey, the evi- dence shows what you’re doing isn’t working, but you just keep doing you.’ ” said Jenny Sedlis of the charter-advocacy group StudentsFirstNY. “Hynes is putting kids’ needs last and ignoring the clear facts that show his team must do things differently.”
Other detractors said teachers benefit from having at least one standardized measure of student proficiency amid the haze of less precise indicators.
“It’s disappointing that he doesn’t see the value in the assessments and is completely unwilling to improve the tests,” said Brian Fritsch of the pro-testing group High Achievement New York.
Statewide, test opt-outs were at 19 percent last year but far higher in parts of Long Island. New York City kids opted out at far lower rates, with just 3 percent declining the math exam last year.
While holding a general skepticism of high-stakes testing, New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza has lauded state exams as valuable assessment tools. The Department of Education has also cited state results in vetting schools for closure.