Parents and students want to send a strong message to New York State by opting out of assessments. On Tuesday students in grades three through eight will be administered the English Language Arts exam. WBFO's Focus on Education reporter Eileen Buckley talked to local parents about allowing their child to opt out.
"We are definitely opting out," said Heidi Indelicato, Lancaster School parent. Indelicato is the mother of three children. Her ten year old won't be taking the test Tuesday. Indelicato tells WBFO News she does not believe these assessments are being used properly.
"The question are very ambiguous. There's tricky questions. There's questions that don't have correct answer choices on them," said Indelicato.
Chirs Cerrone, co-founder of NYS Allies for Public education, is a parent and school board member in the Springville School District. Both his children will opt out.
"Kids really understand the difference between a test that doesn't count for anything and really has no purpose vs. a teacher created or or school created test or a regents exam," said Cerrone.
Cerrone tells WBFO News too many elementary schools spending too much time on ELA and Math with other subjects taking a back seat.
Shirley Verrico is a Williamsville District School parent with three children. Her 3rd grade and 8th grade children will also opt out Tuesday.
"The thing that really got me involved was my youngest child was in first grade and I went into conferences and I was hearing testing language talking about whether or not an essay on the Cat and the Hat was a one, two, three or four and I was horrified," said Verrico.
Three parents from three different school districts, but all in support of opt out and disagree with the Governor and State Education departments stance on the tests.
"I don't think spending billions with a 'b' on a tool that is incapable of measuring what any single student knows or what any single teacher is teaching," said Verrico.
