Parents organizing boycott of assessment tests

April 13, 2001
Web posted at: 11:14 AM EDT (1514 GMT)

SCARSDALE, New York (AP) -- Saying standardized tests are ineffective and superficial, some parents in this upscale New York City suburb are planning to keep their children home during state assessment exams this spring.

Deborah Rapaport, a leader of the boycott campaign, said she hopes up to half of the approximately 300 eighth-graders at Scarsdale Middle School will stay home when the tests are given starting next month.

"The standardized tests are almost entirely a measure of very superficial knowledge," Rapaport said. "They don't measure real learning, real understanding."

The effort is part of a nationwide movement to resist what critics see as an overuse of standardized tests in the name of raising educational standards. Opponents say the exams force teachers to emphasize only material that will be tested instead of developing a deeper, more well-balanced curriculum.

Alan Ray, a spokesman for the state Education Department, said the purpose of the tests is to identify students who need remedial help.

"We never advise anyone to teach to the test," Ray said. "We advise teachers and schools to teach to the standard. If a school is teaching reading and writing at a reasonable level then students will do well."

Ray could not say whether Scarsdale Middle School would face sanctions if large numbers of pupils boycotted the tests.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.