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| NYC Chancellor Carmen Farina
Of course Carmen Farina wants parents of students who have Individualized Education Plans and/or are new immigrants to opt out of tests!!! She assumes that these groups of kids would not do well on the tests, and she wants all schools to look good (scrubbing of grades is happening throughout NYC).
That's my 2 cents.
Betsy Combier
betsy.combier@gmail.com
Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter Editor, Parentadvocates.org Editor, New York Court Corruption Editor, National Public Voice |
by Amy Zimmer, March 25, 2016
BROOKLYN — Schools Chancellor
Carmen Fariña said it's OK for some parents to opt out of statewide tests in
English and Math, which runs counter to her public stance against the growing
opt-out movement, DNAinfo New York has learned.
Her
comments were made at an invite-only meeting Thursday night with parents who
are part of the opt-out movement in Brooklyn's District 15.
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| Students at the Bronx Academy of Promise |
“I think
there is a place and a time to opt out,” Fariña told the parents from the
district that includes Carroll Gardens, Park Slope and Sunset Park where she
was once superintendent.
She
provided two instances where, she said, “I certainly as a parent would opt
out,” according to a transcript posted on Facebook of the meeting held at the
Park Slope office of City Councilman Brad Lander.
One was for children with special
needs who have mandated services through an Individualized Education Plan
(IEP). The other was for newly arrived immigrants.
Just 4.4
percent of students who were English Language Learners were deemed proficient
in English and 14.6 percent were proficient in math,based on last
year’s scores. Nearly 7 percent of students with special needs were
proficient in English and 11.3 percent were proficient in math.
“A special
ed parent, with a child with an IEP who has a very low frustration level, who
no matter how much you’re going to do is never [going to] get to a certain
level on this kind of test,” she said. “That’s not to say that they’re not
going to have success in life and so forth but to sit through a test with maybe
a level 1 or 2 reader … I think it is a little bit, you know, too much.
"So
if I were that kind of a parent, I’d probably opt out.”
Fariña
also said that she’s been fighting the state to eliminate the entireNew York State
English as a Second Language Achievement Test, which is designed to assess the
English language proficiency of all English Language Learners each year
enrolled in grades K – 12.
"If I
was a parent of a newly arrived immigrant, and I was taking the test after
being in this country for one year, I’d say, 'What? Are you kidding?” Fariña
said. “We want this changed … I want the NYSESLAT as a whole eliminated, but
this particular criteria of putting kids through something that there’s no way
they can succeed at, again that to me is an option [for opting out].”
Her words
diverge from her previous statements as well as some recent actions of
principals.
In August,
when announcing the results of last year's state tests, Fariña said, "I
don't believe in opt out. I believe that everyone needs to be assessed."
And last week a
Williamsburg principal recently confiscated “refusing the test” forms a fifth
grader was handing out to
classmates and held an impromptu lecture telling students they couldn’t talk
about opting out, parents said.
Since
then, however, the tide has shifted with the recent election of Betty Rosa as
chancellor of the state’s Board of Regents.
“If I was
a parent and I was not on the Board of Regents, I would opt out at this time,”
Rosa recently said,
according to Chalkbeat.
As head of
the Board of Regents, Rosa now oversees the State Education Department, which
administers the tests.
City
Department of Education spokeswoman Devora Kaye said that Farina has met with
parents to listen, answer questions, discuss concerns and educate community
members about the changes that have been made to the state tests.
She is
discussing how the changes "are beneficial for students, parents, teachers
and administrators,” Kaye said.
“Specifically,
the Chancellor consistently stresses that there will be fewer questions,
unlimited time as long as students are working productively and that test scores
won’t determine promotion,” she said. “The data collected is critical to inform
better instruction, and while it is ultimately a parent's decision, the
Chancellor urges families to rest assured that many of their concerns have been
addressed and that participation is important in order to hold ourselves
accountable for progress.”
Many
parents and teachers, however, have pointed out that the tests have been
reduced by roughly two questions, and though the tests will now be untimed, the
time spent taking them is unlikely to decrease. Third graders, for instance,
are still expected to spend seven hours taking the tests.
Lander
said he "thought Chancellor Farina did a great job explaining her
point-of-view, discussing the changes that have been made to the State tests,
and listening to the views of those in the room."
He said
the parents "effectively expressed their strong opinions, and we are lucky
to have such engaged parent leaders in our neighborhood schools. I give the
Chancellor a lot of credit for coming out to share her views, and to
listen."
