Parents organize boycott, protests state exams

WHAT THEY SAY James Kadamus, New York state deputy commissioner of education: "We don't think that testing three times during a student's career is really too much testing."

From Brian Palmer

SCARSDALE, New York (CNN) -- In an affluent bedroom community outside New York City, parents of eighth-graders planned a rebellion.

The mothers and fathers in Scarsdale objected to their children taking the state's mandated exams to assess their math, science, social studies and English abilities.

To show the state how serious they were, the parents organized a boycott of the science exam this week. And 68 percent of the school's 295 students failed to show up for the exam, the Associated Press reported.

"What really lies at the bottom of this is an opposition to one-size fits all assessments," said Leslie Berkovitz, a parent who helped organize the boycott. "What we're really asking for is to maintain local control over curriculum and local control over assessments."

The parents' main objection to the tests was the suspension of regular class instruction to prepare students for the exams. "… The tests were driving our curriculum," said Melanie Spivak," president of the Scarsdale Middle School's PTA. "We had to teach to the test."

Scarsdale's school superintendent did not support the boycott, but allowed teachers to reduce the time they spent preparing students for the assessment test. The parents supported his decision, accepting his warning that such a measure could lower the test scores in the normally high-scoring district.

Scarsdale Middle School parents organized a student boycott to protest state-mandated assessment tests

But the call to hold schools and teachers accountable for student performance is a standard political refrain that begins in the White House.

While the Scarsdale community would like to develop its own academic yardsticks, that is not likely to happen. New York's education officials have said assessment tests must be uniform to assure education equality.

"Once you have all local assessment, then you are really basing it on the subjective judgment of individual schools and individual teachers," James Kadamus, New York's deputy commissioner of education told the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Scarsdale boycotters said the community, not politicians, has the answers for students and they will continue their fight until state officials allow their schools to focus more on teaching and less on testing.

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The Scarsdale Schools

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