Why Parents Really "Opt Out" Their Children. Its The Teacher Evaluation Tie-in!

The State Department of Education and the Governor both claimed that the teacher unions were the blame for the 20% "opt out" rates of the State's Common Core high-stakes tests.  However, both dismiss the fact that many parents were concerned about the inappropriateness of these State tests and the tie-in to the teacher evaluation.  Newsday did an analysis of the factors that influenced the parents to "opt out" on Long Island where 50% of the parents "opted out" their child and teacher unions were not mentioned as the reason for "opting out".

The major reason that parents "opted out" their child from the State high-stakes tests was that it was tied to teacher evaluations.   Newsday found that 75% of the parents stated that they "opted out" their child because of the tie-in with their teacher's grade which they believe is unfair and wrong.  Interestingly, only 8% of parents stated that their reason for "opting out" was that the child's teacher or Principal advised them to do so.  By contrast 10% of the parents who decided not to "opt out" were advised so by their child's teacher or Principal.  That means that the school educator was a neutral influence on the "opt out" movement.

According to the Newsday article the breakdown is as follows:

Reason to "opt out"............................................Percentage

Tie-in to teacher evaluation.....................................75%
Child's refusal.........................................................17%
Social Media...........................................................12%
Child unready for test..............................................10%
Advised by school educator......................................8%

Reason to "opt in".............................................Percentage

Testing is important...............................................52%
Tie-in to teacher evaluation....................................37%
Child wanted to take the test..................................24%
Social Media..........................................................12%
Advised by school educator....................................19%

Note: the percentages are over 100% because some parents gave more than one reason for their decision.

Looking at the data two things are obvious.  First, educator and social media  influence  were giving mixed messages and didn't significantly change the percentages for or against.  Second, teacher unions were not listed as a significant factor in a parent's decision to "opt out".  True a few local unions like the Port Jefferson Teachers Union did lobby to have their district students to "opt out" and it did result in an 80% "opt out" rate.  In the few school districts where the teachers union did lobby to have the students "opt out" the district's "opt out" rate was closer to 75% than the average 50% throughout Long Island which indicates the potential powerful influence teacher unions can have on the "opt out" rate if they so choose..

The feeble attempts by NYSED and Regents to tweak the new and more punitive education policy does not affect the teacher evaluation and the junk science that grades the teacher and since 75% of the parents who "opted out" their child because of the teacher evaluation tie-in, the State has failed to address the main cause for the "opt out".  In fact, under the new teacher evaluation system teacher the high-stakes test is now 50% of a teachers grade instead of the previous 20%.

I strongly suspect that the "opt out" rate will only increase as more teacher unions will lobby hard to eliminate the unfair and wrong teacher evaluation tie-in to the high-stakes Common Core State tests and parents will support their child's teacher by "opting out" in greater numbers than even last school year.  Governor Andrew Cuomo and NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia are you listening?