RVC Superintendent Addresses State Assessment 'Opt Outs'

Rockville Centre Superintendent William Johnson spoke at Wednesday’s board meeting about the high number of district students who “opted out” of the new state assessment exams that started Tuesday.

As of Wednesday, a total 328 students -- 244 of whom were South Side Middle School students -- did not take the exams out of roughly 1,700, according to Johnson.

Newsday [paid link] reported:

       This year's tests, for the first time, reflect new national Common Core curriculum standards, generally considered more rigorous than those used in the past. For this reason, state authorities have warned that passing rates statewide could fall 30 percentage points or more when tests are scored in the summer.

“We do not need these tests to tell us what to do [with our students], nor does any other school district in the state of New York,” Johnson said.

“I think parents are doing it for a variety of reasons,” he added. “I know that this was a probably, for many of them, an exceedingly difficult thing to do. We, as a school district, made the decision that we would respect the decisions of families.”

Johnson said that the Rockville Centre School District probably had the largest number of opt outs in Nassau County, acknowledging the report in Newsday.

“I think one of the things that should be clearly understood at this point ... for our children, there will be no consequences,” Johnson said. “For our staff -- who will be involved in evaluations -- I don’t believe that there will be any real consequences in the long run.”

Parents at Wednesday’s board meeting were still concerned about potential penalties for not taking the exam.

State officials told Newsday that any schools where test-participation rates fall below the 95-percent requirement “could be flagged by the state and penalized financially.” However, Johnson said that is absolutely not the case.

“There is no fiscal consequence to having children opt out of this test,” the Rockville Centre School’s chief said.

An addendum for a resolution passed by the board Wednesday reflected the district’s position on standardized state testing and described the entire process as “inadequate” and an “often unreliable measure.” The resolution reads:

       Resolved, that Rockville Centre UFSD calls on the governor, state legislature and state education boards and administrators to reexamine public school accountability systems in this state, and to develop a system based on multiple forms of assessment which does not require extensive standardized testing, more accurately reflects the broad range of student learning, and is used to support students and improve schools.