Why Parents are Opting to Opt-Out When it Comes to State Exams

State education examinations taking place this month will likely have fewer students sitting for the tests compared to past years as several parents in the Bayport-Blue Point and Sayville school districts are exercising the ‘opt out’ option for numerous reasons.

For Allyson Barbato it’s a matter of principle, as she doesn’t believe the exams are a valid measure of her third grade daughter’s intelligence and have proven to be unreliable and inconsistent.

“I am not having my daughter opt out as a way to get out of something challenging or difficult,” she wrote on Patch’s Facebook page.

“The tests are not a valid measure of her intelligence, as evidenced by the FACT that two years ago, the cut off scores were changed AFTER the ELA's were administered. If these tests were valid and reliable, how could the scores be changed? I am unwilling to submit my child to an inconsistent and unreliable practice,” said Barbato.

The opt-out movement is being driven by two major factors: state officials have already warned that the tests will be very difficult and that proficiency grades will be much lower due to the new Common Core Curriculum, which is still being implemented by state schools.

The second aspect is that state testing days have proven to be very stressful for young students and that level of stress will likely be higher this year, according to educators.

Parents wishing to have students opt-out need to notify the district and have the student make the request in school. While there is no 'punishment' for not taking the tests, educators note the tests are used to determine if additional services are needed for a student and that being out of school for so many days isn't a positive action.

The English Language Arts (ELA), for third to eighth graders are all day exams happening on April 16, 17 and 18. The three-day state math exam takes place on April 24, 25 and 26.

Barbato doesn’t buy the missed class time argument, nothing that students can attend school on test days and can be provided an alternative activity by the school though it is not mandated.

“According to the NYS Program Educator Guide to the 2013 Common Core tests, when children have completed their tests that student may be permitted to read silently. So it is then appropriate and reasonable to ask that the school provide an alternative activity (although not required by the school),” she stated, citing a guide offered by an organized group of parents who opt out of testing.

Patch has attached a copy of the guide to this article or you can download it here.

B-BP parent Jamie Falzone Kellerman is also opting out her children from testing and already notified her son’s teachers.

“They are currently deciding how to handle the time, silent reading or out of the class, and I was told they might ask me to keep him home for the testing portion of the day. I will abide in exchange for their cooperation,” she stated.

“I have a child who actually tests well and has no academic issues. I am simply protesting this awful method of wasting so much valuable time teaching to the test," she wrote on Patch's Facebook page.

"I do not agree with making him spend hours upon hours highlighting and underlining as 'ELA strategies' when he already does well on the practice tests by simply reading the passages,” she said. “I think when a child has an interest in learning something outside of the Common Core Curriculum, it should be acknowledged. I think that he is being cheated of an appropriate education. I think we parents must have a voice.”

For parent Karen Carmen Kraus, opting out is no longer a decision to make as her kids are beyond testing age but, then again, as she recalls there never seemed to be an opt-out option years ago. She said she’s very happy to see the opt-out movement happening.

“I am so glad to see this coming to light as there was no talk that I was aware of when they were taking these tests at the time to opt out when my younger son took them in fourth grade there was such difference (and not in a good way) in the tests and the stress that was going on,” she recalled. “I was so frustrated, spoke to his teacher and got no where and other parents just went along with it,” she stated, adding she felt she there was really no choice to make with state tests.

If facing the issue today she said would have to give it heavy thought.

“It’s a money making business and I do not believe these tests have the kids in their best interest at all,” she stated.

Parent Tina Valetutti-Kraemer is considering the opt-out option for the first time this year but is worried that by opting out her son may lose services he needs.

“With the new curriculum and being that they are not prepared I thought about it," she said. "The only concern I have is with my son will he lose the services he already gets. Because they won’t have a test to base his reading and math services off of."

It’s a legitimate concern, as Karen Carmen Kraus noted, as her son received extra services one year due to test scores but then also lost those services when his scores improved the next year.

“It's terrible how the schools base everything off of these tests. My younger son got reading and math help in fourth grade based off these tests and when the next grouping of tests came along they wanted to yank him out,” she said, adding that she and her husband had to fight to keep his services intact for the remainder of that year.

“I was told other kids needed it more than him but me and my husband fought to keep him in it for the rest of the school year and my reason was he was doing better because of the extra help and his class work wasn't up to par,” she said.

“Now he's in 10th grade and an honor student taking an AP class. These tests to me are worthless and waste extreme amount of important class room and learning time," Kraus added.