SEVERAL HUNDRED NORTH SHORE STUDENTS OPT OUT OF ELA EXAM
Updated April 16, 2015 - - According to district officials, the parents of nearly 500 North Shore students in grades 3-8 who were scheduled to sit for the New York State Common Core English and Language Arts assessments that were administered last Tuesday through Thursday opted their children out of the exam. In grades, 3-5, 32% of students refused the exam while in the middle school, 45% of students opted out. The opt out rate at North Shore was slightly lower than the Long Island average reported by Newsday - 42.6%. Neighboring districts were generally lower than North Shore, with Roslyn reporting 32.5% , Glen Cove 28% Jericho 18.3% and Port Washington had 20.9%. Locust Valley was higher with 40.4% of students refusing the exam.
At this past Thursday's Board of Education meeting, North Shore Schools Superintendent Dr. Edward Melnick said that the consequences for exceeding 5% with regard to opt outs is that none of the district's schools would be able to be designated "reward schools," and that the elementary schools and middle school would appear on a New York State "watch list." "Just to see how absurd all of this is," he said, he pointed out that Glenwood Landing School would be going from one year being designated as a United States Department of Education Blue Ribbon School, only to be placed on New York State's "watch list," or what he later said is now called a "struggling school." "It shows you how misleading statistics can be," the Superintendent observed. The state math assessments will be given this week over three days - Wednesday through Friday. BACK TO WEEKLY |