Parents Question State Testing

Heather Cornell’s daughter usually enjoys her time in seventh grade at Nyack Middle School, but she recently voiced some displeasure about her schoolwork.

“She told me that she used to love English class, but now all they do is prepare for tests and it’s not as fun,” Cornell said. “She said to me one night, ‘I still love English, but just not right now.’”

Cornell doesn’t want her daughter to have to take next week’s state testing either, and as of Friday afternoon was thinking about taking her daughter out of school during the exams. The state tests start Tuesday and run three days for the next two weeks for students in grades three through eight. They are part of the new Common Core curriculum, which was implemented in the state this school year.

According to Cornell, and other parents, there is too much testing going on at schools that seems to be done more for assessment than to better educate children.

“They’re not coming from a place to inform or improve the kids’ learning,” Cornell said. “All these tests are eroding the kids’ education. They’re causing unneeded stress and the reasons behind them are not kid-focused.”

Cornell hasn’t decided if she will hold her daughter, or son in fourth grade, from the testing over the next few weeks.

Andy Golub and his wife have already made up their mind about their third-grade son in Upper Nyack Elementary School.

“My wife and I don’t like that these standardized tests have taken over the classroom,” he said. “It’s making the learning process very different in schools. It takes away from the actual learning and adds stress and anxiety.”

He said if he does decide to have his son opt-out of the testing, he won’t send his son to school for the testing those mornings.

“If he doesn’t take the test, he’s just going to have to sit there with the test in front of him not doing anything,” Golub said. “Why would I want to make my son just sit in a classroom not doing anything? I think the testing ends pretty early, though, so he’ll still be there most of the day.”

Jane Graumann, who has kids in third grade and kindergarten, isn’t too happy about that either, though.

“They’re going to go through this rigorous testing in the morning,” she said. “Then they’re going to have a regular school day and homework on top of that? That’s ridiculous.”

Nyack Superintendent of Schools Dr. James Montesano said he understands where the parents are coming from, and that all elementary schools and the middle school in his district have already received a few letters from parents indicating they’re going to keep their kids out of school during the testing. However, he and superintendents in Clarkstown and Pearl River all sent letters home to parents in the last two weeks explaining the importance of these tests.

Some federal school funding is tied to these tests, and poor attendance could affect how the schools are allowed to use the funding going forward. All three letters mentioned the state expects a 95 percent attendance rate, and Montesano said that means across various groups, including sorted by grade and broken down into other student groups, such as English as a second language and economically disadvantaged.

“We might have somewhere between 70 and 80 students in, say, third grade at one of the elementary schools,” Montesano said. “So if even just five parents hold their kids out, that could be a big problem for us. That’s the reality we have a concern about.”

However, Cornell, Golub and Graumann all said they don’t think of this situation as the parents facing off against the school districts. Instead, they want to work with the districts to try and come up with a way to get their message to Gov. Andrew Cuomo without possibly negatively affecting the districts.

“We need him to back off and listen to the parents,” Cornell said. “His educational mandates are not helping.”

All three also said they’re pleased with the Nyack School District and the teachers there, which is partly why they don’t care for the increased testing.

“The teachers bring great expertise into the classroom,” Golub said. “Having more testing is only taking away more opportunities for the teachers to do what they do best.”

On Tuesday, the first day of testing, a group called ReThinking Testing is organizing an opt-out day rally in Albany. They’re asking parents and students to come to the state capital building Tuesday at 11 a.m. to show the governor and other state officials they’re not happy with all the standardized testing.

Cornell said she and a few other parents were trying to get a local meeting with members of the district and some of the local state legislators. Montesano said he’s meeting with a group of parents Monday morning.

“We want to come up with an even louder message than skipping out on the tests,” Cornell said.

Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee will be in Albany on Monday and won’t be able to make it, but is sending her chief of staff, Darcy Casteleiro. Jaffee also gave a statement on the issue.

“The new mandatory state testing encourages teaching to the test rather than teaching students what they need to succeed in today’s world,” Jaffee said in the statement. “The frequency of these tests slashes valuable instructional time. Testing can be a useful tool, but excessive testing can end up undermining our students’ ability to learn and the quality of their education. Not only that, the high cost of administering these tests is yet one more unfunded mandate that will fall upon the taxpayers.”

State Sen. David Carlucci said he’ll be in Albany on Monday and won’t be able to make the meeting. However, on Friday he did talk a little bit about the issue with school testing.

“There’s a lot of great parent activists here in Rockland County who are fighting hard to make sure we have that we have the best quality of education possible,” he said. “Race To The Top has mandated all these increased standardized tests, which I have major concerns of, and I look forward to working with parents, with superintendents [and] with teachers to make sure that teachers aren’t just teaching to a test, but they’re able to use their skills to teach our children a well-rounded education.”

Montesano said he’s also hoping he and the parents can come up with a way to get their voice heard by the governor’s office besides skipping out on the tests. He said a few parents have written letters to the governor’s office about the testing.

“You can see that the parents are being very thoughtful, and it’s not just them trying to get their kids out of taking tests. They’re thinking about what’s best for their child,” Montesano said. “It’s wonderful we have parents paying attention to these kinds of things. This is a community where the parents really care about the quality of education their kids receive. It’s refreshing.”