NYC Opt Out 2023 Teach-In/Info Session

Click HERE to view the slide deck used for this event. 

The recording of our info session runs over an hour. Here’s a breakdown of the video to enable focus on particular sections. Alternatively, skip directly to the video.

0:08 Slide presentation on NY State tests, Pt. 1: Standardized tests, everything, everywhere, all at once; a closer look at test questions–do the tests really tell us if students are meeting standards? (presenter Kemala Karmen, NYC Opt Out Advisory Committee)

12:19 Introduction of Congressman Jamaal Bowman (moderator Jody Drezner Alperin, NYC Opt Out Advisory Committee)

13:37 Why Congress needs to pass the More Teaching, Less Testing Act: Perspectives from one of the handful of educators currently serving in the House of Representatives (NYC Opt Out ally, Congressman Jamaal Bowman, NY-16)

23:51 Question: How can we support this important legislation? (Jody)

24:15 Answer: Help get co-sponsors for the bill  (Rep. Bowman) 

27:32 Slide presentation on NY State tests, Pt. 2: Myths and truths about opt out including middle and high school admissions; dispelling fear about refusing the tests; taking action jointly in a community of love and support (Jody & Kemala)

36:18 A teacher’s perspective, Pt. 1: How does a child’s day-to-day experience of the classroom change when the overwhelming majority of students refuse the test? What is the impact on students with IEPs especially? (Jody introduces Antoinette, a recently retired 5th grade teacher who taught in a Brooklyn school where up to 95% of families regularly refuse the tests on behalf of their children)

41:20 A teacher’s perspective, Pt. 2: The costs of high-stakes standardized testing, Campbell’s Law, and the undermining of teachers’ professionalism (Jody introduces 4th grade NYC DOE teacher Martina)

48:58 Introduction of final speaker, Dr. Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, who delivers her remarks in both Spanish and English (Jody)

50:25 Dr. Salas-Ramirez en español (Dr. Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, NYC Opt Out Advisory Committee)

54:38 (In English) Perspective on high-stakes testing and opt out from a parent who is also a neuroscientist and medical school lecturer: Authentic assessment; the (mis)uses of data, especially as it concerns Black and brown children; the perils of gatekeeping  (Kaliris)

58:35 How to opt out (sample opt out letter); you don’t need to meet with your principal! (Jody)

1:00:38  Q & A
The following questions were raised:

+ When do I opt out? Is there a deadline?

+What do students who opt out do when other students are testing?

+Is written notice sufficient to opt out?

+How can we opt out of “screeners” (MAP, iReady, Acadience)

+Contact NYCOO if you are getting pushback

+Principals say they are using “screeners” for targeted instructions, so if we opt out how will they know how to target instruction? (Jody & Martina)

01:12:11 Refuse to be part of the data-mining machine. Opt out is the lever for returning authentic assessment to classrooms. (Jody & Kaliris)

Due to time constraints, we were unable to answer all the questions that were raised in the chat. Questions that may have been unanswered, along with responses, are provided below. If you have any additional questions or would like to talk with someone at NYC Opt Out about test refusal, please contact us or post on our Facebook page.

Q1: If my 7th grader opts out this year, will they be penalized during the high school applications process next year?

A1: No. The majority of NYC public high schools do not screen for admissions at all. Those few that do, do not use state test scores as a factor in admissions, and have not for the last several admissions cycles, if ever. (The “specialized” high schools have never used state test scores, basing admissions decisions solely on the SHSAT.) Non-specialized screened schools consider a student’s final seventh-grade report card grades in English (ELA), math, science, and social studies. In some cases, they may also use their own school-created assessment, such as an essay. 

Although we have no reason to think that screened schools will go back to using state test scores, if they did, your student would be protected by the New York State law that prohibits using state test scores as the sole or primary factor in admissions. To comply with that law, in the past every New York City high school had to have an alternative rubric for admitting students who for whatever reason—opting out, relocating from another state or country, transferring from private school to public—lacked New York State test scores. Usually, that workaround meant schools double-weighted math and ELA report card grades in their admissions formula.

Q2: What are the consequences for schools when parents refuse the tests on behalf of their children?    

A2: Generally, opt out will not affect schools at all. However, if very few eligible students in a school are tested, and those who do take the tests receive very low test scores, the school could be at risk of being designated by New York State as "in need of support." Once designated, schools receive additional funding and other resources for “school improvement,” and are required to submit additional paperwork to New York State. No school has ever lost funding, teachers, or staff; had a principal replaced; had their curriculum micromanaged; or been closed because of high opt out rates. 

While the federal government mandates that 95% of students in a school or district participate in the state ELA and math tests, in the past, the majority of districts in New York State have not met this requirement. Many schools have had participation rates far below 95%, yet relatively few have ever received a support designation. The New York State Education Department may ask schools that repeatedly fall below the 95% threshold to complete a “participation improvement plan.” Several high opt out schools have successfully submitted participation improvement plans that essentially read, "It is not our place to coerce families into test participation."

Q3: Can students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) or Section 504 Plans opt out of the state tests?

A3: Parents of students who have IEPs and/or receive accommodations in school based on a Section 504 Plan have the same right to opt their children out of the New York State ELA, math, and science tests as every other parent in New York State—and have exercised that right in large numbers.  

Special education services and school accommodations are determined in coordination with your child’s teachers, their service providers, and the school-based support team and documented in your child’s IEP or in their Section 504 Plan. Initiating or continuing these services is not dependent on having state test scores.

Q4: Is written notice enough to opt out? Do I have to meet with my child’s principal too?

A4: Written notice is sufficient. Parents (or students) are not required to meet with administration to have their test refusal respected, and we advise that you politely decline if asked to have such a meeting, whether by Zoom, phone, or in person.  

To  refuse to allow your child to participate in the New York State tests you need only send the principal a letter or email informing them of your decision, or submit a digital form (if one is provided by your school). We have sample opt out letters in English and Spanish on our website, if you’d like a template.

Q5: How can we get our children out of the so-called “academic screeners,” such as MAP, Acadience, and i-Ready?

A5:  The “academic screeners” are not part of federal or New York State testing requirements, but they’ve been mandated for the past two years by the NYC Department of Education.  We are aware of parents who have successfully opted their children out of the MAP, Acadience, and i-Ready tests. These academic screeners are often misleadingly called “diagnostics” or interim assessments, and in some schools, may be embedded in curricula used in your child’s class. You can opt out of these screeners the same way that you opt out of the New York State tests—by writing or emailing your school’s principal to let them know that you refuse to have your child participate in these academic screeners.  

Some school officials have told parents that they cannot opt out of the “academic screeners,”  but you have every right to refuse to allow your child to participate and to request that your child be directly assessed by the teacher and not a canned computer program. Parents who have submitted refusal letters and have been politely persistent have had their refusals respected by their schools. 

Q6: What do opt out students do while the rest of the class is getting tested? Do I have to keep my child home?

A6:  You do not have to keep your child home from school in order to refuse the tests. If possible, make arrangements with your child’s teacher and/or principal for what your child will do during the testing days. Most schools will have non-testing children read, write, or draw quietly either in their classroom or in a separate location like the library. Some will send children to help out in lower grades. If the school has large numbers of children opting out, the school day may proceed more or less normally, with the few children who are testing sent to a separate location.  

Please note that if you keep your child home from school on testing days without submitting a test refusal letter, and without speaking to your school’s administration, your child will be marked absent and could be tested on make-up days. 

Q7: To know what progress our child has made meeting the standards, or to show their academic accomplishments, what are good alternatives to the state tests?  

A7: Your child’s teacher is the best person to talk to about the progress your child is making toward meeting goals, benchmarks, and standards. Teachers in all of our public schools have assessment processes in place, based on multiple measures, that they use to evaluate how students are learning. Some NYC public elementary, middle, and high schools regularly use project-based learning and performance-based assessment; these allow students to demonstrate competency while integrating research, creativity, critical thinking, and analysis—elements which a standardized test, by its nature, is rarely able to incorporate or gauge. 

NYC Opt Out believes that teacher- and student-created low-stakes evaluations spread out through the year and encompassing classroom tests and quizzes, portfolios, papers, reflections, and projects provide a far better measure of student learning than one test score generated by one exam per subject.