Readers Write: Why we joined the opt-out movement

The Island Now

When did teachers become the enemy?  

Newsday laments in a recent editorial that teachers unions are really behind the “opt out” movement in order to selfishly shield their profession from its failure to educate our children. 

We then read in the same editorial a damning statistic that implies that the evidence against teachers speaks for itself.  

According to Newsday, “Less than 40 percent of New York students are on track to be college and career ready by graduation.  Can we really believe, as evaluations tell us, that only 1 percent of teachers were ineffective over the past few years.”

The implication is that 60 percent of New York State students aren’t college or career ready by the time they graduate high school because their teachers failed them.  With 70 percent of our high school grads going to college in New York this statistical conclusion is clearly flawed.

Also not considered is the fact that hundreds of thousands of students must navigate through language barriers, economic disadvantages in their home or community, various learning or emotional disabilities, personal family challenges all of which may impact readiness for college or career after high school.  

There are also schools that have their own challenges in terms of funding or overcrowding that impact a child’s ability to learn and a teacher’s ability to teach.

Educating 2.7 million children in our state’s public schools is challenge enough without having to deal with accusations that unfairly vilify and blame our teachers and their unions.

The disturbing commentary above misses the entire point about why the opt out movement continues to thrive.  

Teachers are caught between a corporate sponsored, overreaching curriculum and an excessive and punitive testing process.  It is perfectly appropriate for teacher’s unions to stand up and point out the obvious, especially when teachers themselves are not always allowed to do so.

The fact is that parents have spearheaded the opt out movement for very simple and basic reasons.  The new curriculum and testing policies are not sufficiently vetted and not fair.

So what do parents want?  

We believe they want a challenging curriculum that gives their kids the best chance for success, but not one that promotes a race to the bottom by purporting to raise standards by simply lowering all students’ grades. 

They want their kids to have academic benchmarks, but not through grueling tests that are really teacher evaluation forms that force teachers to become test preparation machines.  

They want to know that their children’s teachers are respected and assisted by the education system and not made into scapegoats for a multitude of other societal failures or mistakes. 

All things considered, opting out is a statement against a curriculum that has not been properly vetted and against a flawed testing process that is secretive and burdensome.  

It is also a statement against a teacher assessment system that is unfair and punitive.  

Yes, we should elevate our curriculum and challenge our students to do better, but we should do this with input from our teachers and school administrators.  

Yes, teachers should be evaluated and assessed, but in a manner that is fair based on a multitude of factors through a process that recognizes their efforts and provides constructive opportunity for improvement.  

We cannot speak for all parents on whether or not their children should opt out of the state tests.  We can say that this is the thought process that we went through when we decided to send in our test refusal letter on behalf of our fifth grade daughter for this year’s state tests.  

Yes, we have opted out.

Jon and Kim Kaiman

Great Neck

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