Opt out observation

I find it interesting that the lowest opt out rates are found in either higher ranking districts or districts with more minority students. Just an interesting observation. More of the "middle" ranking districts opt out. Seeing as how the testing determines how much funding the school gets, I wonder if that is why?

Opt out observation

Opting out really has no bearing on funding, despite what you read.

Re: Opt out observation

My 2 cents-

High performing districts are competitive. The parents like the "numbers"

Poorly performing districts parents are less savvy and/or trust that the doe is doing the right thing and the tests mean something

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I live in a district that had one of the lowest opt out rates and I will tell you what the thoughts are here from what I have seen. Most of the parents believe these tests are good practice for taking standardized tests. I also think that most of our students are high test performers therefore some of the difficulties that students have in other districts aren't has prevalent here. That being said, I think that the few people here that do opt out do so because they believe their child will preform poorly and do not want to put undo stress and anxiety on their child. My daughter, who is in kindergarten now and receives services in a few areas will potentially not take the tests for these reasons. My son on the other hand is very bright and will take the tests next year.

The final factor, I believe, is that a very small % of the mothers in our community are teachers on Long Island and I believe that teachers have the greatest impact on opt out rates. So if you are not a teacher being impacted by theses tests and you are not friends with many teachers being impacted by the tests you are less likely to opt out. And when I say impact I am referring to how it impacts them both day to day in having to teach to the test and put pressure on students, watching the students suffer etc. as well as how it affects your performance evaluations. Just the all around impact of the tests on the classroom environment.

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In general, this may be the case but I live in a very high performing district and we have a high opt out rate. I don't just say it's high performing, as I've seen our results and we are often ranked 1st or 2nd in Suffolk on various assessments. I think we have a very high opt out rate because several of the well known opt out advocates live in this district. In addition, our schools don't put up a fight.

ETA--Checked the opt out numbers again. We have a lot in my district in comparison to other highly ranked districts but I see what the OP means. I think there is a bit more consistency with this theory in Nassau County. I still think some of it may have to do with where the various advocates live. Then it also has to do with the Superintendent.

Message edited 5/17/2016 1:25:42 AM.