Standardized
testing is back for 2021, but thousands of New York students aren’t going to be
taking them.
The Department of
Education says schools nationwide were allowed to skip state-run tests in 2020
due to the pandemic, but the tests are back this year.
Parents are still
choosing to have their children opt out of taking the tests.
Bronx mother
Bonnie Massey says the tests set students up to fail and they are not what
children need while schools are being interrupted.
Brooklyn mother
of two and special education advocate Paulette Healy says her daughter’s
self-esteem fell after scoring low on state tests despite getting good grades.
Healy says she
worked double-time to get her daughter a tutor and put her into test prep. She
opted her children out after seeing the tests.
“The questions
were misleading and confusing,” Healey says. “It really wasn’t a true
reflection of what she knew and what she was capable of.”
Members of
teacher advocate groups like Paula White, of Educators 4 Excellence, say
standardized testing is not all bad.
“We want to be
able to see, especially in an impactful year like this, what is the impact of
all of the education disruptions that we have to have,” White says.
White says other
factors such as teacher feedback should also be used to determine a student’s
progress.
The DOE says
students who opt out of state tests will not be penalized.