Cortland Standard .net

By SARAH VABER
Staff Reporter
svaber@cortlandstandard.net
Parents of some local school students said Monday the stress of state assessments and the unfair way they are used to rate teachers prompted them to refuse to let their children take the tests that begin today.
While it was unknown by press time how the city districts will be impacted by this refusal to take the test, the move could lead to the loss of more than $700,000 in federal funds for the Dryden school district, said Superintendent of Schools Sandy Sherwood. Without the federal funding, the district could also be forced to cut 14 staff positions, Sherwood said.
The state English language arts and math tests are contentious tests, based on national Common Core Learning Standards. Each subject test will be taken over a three-day span, with 90-minute sessions held each day. The English test is set to be administered this week, and the math test is scheduled to begin next week.
STRESSING OUT
Randall Elementary School parents and students railed against the tests after school Monday, tests they say place undue pressure on the children set to take them.
“Stressing? I’ve been panicking!” said Raven Shellings, an 11-year-old sixth-grader at the city school.
Frances Shellings, Raven Shellings’ mother, said she will have her son refuse to take the tests as he was so worried about the assessments he became ill over the weekend and would not eat.
Holly St. John said her 12-year-old seventh-grade daughter and her 10-year-old fourth-grade son are also concerned about the state tests.
“They’re completely stressed out. They get sick just thinking about it,” said St. John, who will have her children refuse to take the tests. “They should not be stressed as much as they (are) to take a test that really shouldn’t be happening.”
COUNTING COSTS
St. John and Shellings also took issue with how the tests are connected to federal grant funding for schools.
Districts in which more than 5 percent of the pupils refuse to take the test can lose federal funds, according to the state School Boards Association. The jeopardized funding includes money to help schools with a large low-income population and support for students with disabilities, according to the association.
As of noon Monday, 16 percent of the Dryden Elementary School students were set to refuse to take the tests, said Dryden Superintendent of Schools Sandy Sherwood. Of the students in the Dryden Middle School who were supposed to take the assessments, 22 percent indicated by Monday afternoon they would refuse. In Cassavant Elementary School, 14 percent of students would not take the class, Sherwood said.
Freeville Elementary School, also in the Dryden district, was unaware of any students that were refusing the tests on Monday.
Since the Dryden district will not meet the federal regulation to have 95 percent of its students take the assessments, the district is set to lose a total of about $702,000 in federal grants for teacher salaries and stipends, Sherwood said.
“That’s a total of 14 staff positions that would not be funded,” she said.
The federal grants pay for positions like special education teachers, psychologists and reading teachers, Sherwood said.
“So all of the staff that are supporting struggling students are the ones that these grant moneys support,” she said. “It’s kind of ironic.”
The school district will not know if the sanctions will actually be enforced and the money withheld until after the district’s May 19 budget vote, Sherwood said.
“So there will be nothing I can do other than cut positions because the budget will be adopted,” she said.
The percentage of students who refused to take the tests in Marathon would not be available until after press time this morning, said Marathon Superintendent of Schools Rebecca Stone.
The Marathon district has never had more than 5 percent of students refuse to take the test, so it has never lost out on aid, she said.
The Homer school district did not have a percentage calculated this morning as test refusals were sent in throughout the night, said Superintendent of Schools Nancy Ruscio.
“We have significant numbers,” Ruscio said of the increase in refusals.
On Thursday, the district expected to have less than 5 percent of about800 students refuse to take the test.
In Moravia, about 4 percent of students who are supposed to take the state assessments are refusing the tests, said Michelle Brantner, superintendent of schools. This puts them just below the cutoff for a penalty.
The percentages of students who refused the tests were also unavailable by press time from Cincinnatus, Cortland, DeRuyter, Groton and McGraw school districts.
GRADING THE TEACHER
The way state tests are used to assess teachers was also criticized Monday at Randall Elementary School by Shelling and St. John.
Kimberly McRae Friedman, who will have her 9-year-old son, Gabriel Friedman, refuse his third-grade tests in McGraw Elementary School, also cited the performance ratings in a phone interview. McRae Friedman is a member of Cortland County Caring Advocates for a Responsible Education System, or CARES, a group that has advocated for opting out of the tests.
“I think for us, evaluating teachers is an important concept,” McRae Friedman said of her family. But the state tests do not take into account the child as a whole or the teacher as a whole, she said. “Using it just in isolation is not a good way of evaluating things.”
McRae Friedman said one of the most difficult parts of making the decision to refuse the tests was the feeling that she was using her child as a “pawn” to make a political statement.
“However, since our voices have not been heard in Albany, this is our only choice to stand united with other parents, teachers, administrators and like-minded organizations,” Kimberly McRae Friedman and Wayne Friedman wrote in a letter to McGraw Elementary School Principal Susan Prince.
“It is the hope of many parents, including us, that opting out will send the message that our system is broken and not an effective means to empower, engage and teach our young people.”