Dive Brief:
- One out of six New York students opted out of at least one of the state's two standardized tests this year — a 50% increase in students sitting out of the exam from last year.
- The opt-out movement is being deemed a "political force" by the New York Times, which points to the legislators who are trying to create opt-out-rights bills months after trying to create bills tying test scores to teacher evaluations.
- Out of 440 districts where data was available, only 30 met the federal requirement of 95% test participation. How states and the federal government will handle the opt out movement is a big point of speculation. The Times also ponders whether there will be financial penalties for districts that fall below 95% participation.
Dive Insight:
Parents and the New York State United Teachers union have been greatly influential in catapulting the state's opt-out movement into the limelight. Eric Mihelbergel, a founding member of New York State Allies for Public Education told the New York Times that while they had held letter writing campaigns for years, nobody really paid attention until students — at least 165,000 this year — decided to sit out this year's exams. State law requires schools to administer exams, but whether or not students have to take them is unclear.
Not everyone is keen about the opt out movement. The NAACP and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights released a statement saying they fear the opt out movement will take education backwards, erasing hard work to identify data on inequality in schools.