Education Next – Matthew M. Chingos
“Student refusals to take standardized tests surged in New York State this spring, fueled by support from both parent activists and the state teacher’s union. According to the New York Times, the opt-out movement more than doubled the number of students who did not take federally mandated math and English Language Arts (ELA) tests, with 165,000 kids—about one in six—not taking at least one of the tests. These total numbers mask enormous variation across communities. According to the Times analysis, barely any students opted out in some schools districts, while in other districts a majority of students refused the tests. Are these differences in opt-out rates random, or are they associated with the characteristics of the community served by each district? Do opt-outs tend to be concentrated among relatively affluent districts, or are they most common in schools that have historically performed poorly on state tests? The data needed to best answer these questions are the student-level test-score and demographic information collected by the New York State Department of Education.”(more)