Opting Out of State Testing?

Parent leaders of the movement to boycott New York’s standardized test say opting children out will do more for their education than the tests themselves. The statewide English assessments will be given out today through Thursday to more than one million 3rd through 8th graders. But tens of thousands of others are expected to refuse to take them in a show of civil disobedience.

Critics of the testing say the tests and time spent preparing for them take away from creative instruction and that tying test results to teacher evaluations only worsens the problem. Those opting their children out of tests are hoping that their stand against state tests will lead to policy changes. State officials say about 49,000 students didn’t take the English test last year and about 67,000 skipped the Math assessment. The question is, how many are opting out of tests this week? Please take our poll below.