The news is out. New York students failed in large numbers on last spring's English language arts and math tests. The percentage of failures is precisely what Education Commissioner John King predicted. He also predicted the precipitous decline before the lower scores were even determined.
Parents across the state will be receiving their children's test scores over the next few weeks. Many parents and children will be disappointed with the results. My wife, children and I will not be among them.
We decided to opt out of state testing last spring. It was not an easy decision, as I work for the school my children attend. The reasons that so many parents decided to opt out are numerous, so I will only share our perspective. Our children are bright and do well academically. We opted out, not for us, but for the other students who are subjected to this testing regimen.
This is our way of protesting for the students with disabilities, students whose primary language is not English, and students who were administered a test they were not prepared for. The tests are not developmentally appropriate, have not been properly field-tested and take away from other critical areas of education that are quickly dwindling — like art and music. We also are opposed to student test results being tied to teacher performance.
For Mr. King to suggest that we tell the students and teachers that they did not fail is disingenuous at best. His children will not be receiving such letters, as his daughters go to a private Montessori school.
For parents whose children did take the tests and perhaps did not do as well as they had expected, I say that they didn't fail, the educational system did.
Tim Farley lives in Kinderhook.