The "Opt Out" Movement Continues To Grow On Long Island.

The parents and students of Long Island has resoundingly told the New York State Education Department, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and the education reform organizations what they think of the State's Common Core based high-stakes testing by "opting out" of the tests.  Despite some cosmetic changes and a threat that the federal government would withhold funds to school districts, a majority of students on Long Island 52.8%, "opted out" of the Math test.  This is a higher percentage than last year when 46.5% "opted out".  The latest numbers show that 88,000 Long Island students "opted out" of the Math test, compared to 66,000 last year, an increase of 22,000 students who refused to take the high-stakes State Math test,

Just like last year and the English test last week the epicenter of the "opt out" movement is the solidly middle class white suburbs where the "opt out" rates were over 70%.  By contrast, the poor minority school districts saw the lowest "opt out" rates. However, even in the poor minority school districts the "opt out" rates were higher than the year before, strongly suggesting that the "opt out" movement is growing in strength and not confined to a select cohort.

Will the Governor, politicians, and the NYSED finally realize that the Common Core based State tests, which are age inappropriate, are wrong and dump them altogether?.  If not, look for the "opt out" movement to continue to gain strength and make the already invalid data from these high-stakes tests  meaningless in determining student growth.  Failure to heed parent, student, and teacher complaints has resulted in the "opt out" movement and the NYSED must start listening and not dictating to school districts on what's best for their schools if they want the "opt out" movement to disappear.

Listed below are the school districts with the highest "opt out" rates for Math.

District......................................"Opt Out"

Comsewogue...............................86.5%
Rocky Point..................................81.9%
Eastport-South Mano....................78.6%
Sayville.......................................78.5%
Connetquot.................................76.8%
Patchogue-Medford.....................76.3% 
Northport-East Northport.............75.7%
Bellmore-Merrick.........................75.3%

Overall there were 15 school districts in Suffolk and 4 in Nassau with "opt out" rates over 70%.