United to Counter The Common Core Agenda Through Mobilization

NOTE: It's note to late to refuse the Math tests!

NYS Parents: Why Refuse the Tests?

Facts ONLY.

The tests produced for NYS for the last three years, since the appearance of Common Core, are privately owned by Pearson, Inc, which requires anyone looking at them to sign non-disclosure agreements. Parents cannot see the tests or the questions. Teachers can see only a handful of questions that Pearson chooses to release. Perhaps you remember the story of the talking pineapple question? Yep, Pearson.

Common core standards move typical math standards down two grade levels for no apparent reason. Examples: place value comparisons used to be in 4th grade. Now they are in 2nd grade, despite the fact that 2nd graders are not ready for place values. One of EngageNY's pre-released "sample questions" for the 3rd grade ELA tests tops out at 7th grade reading level. Your child is asked to respond to a written passage up to four years above his/her reading level.

Since NCLB, the format, content, and purpose of the tests has changed. They are no longer designed to test your child's strengths and weaknesses, but to compare school districts against each other. The point of these tests is to find failing schools, using 1.2 million NY schoolchildren as test subjects in order to do so.

Cut scores are set AFTER all tests are graded. So once all tests are in and graded, the regents then determine what cutoff scores will result in a 1, 2, 3, or 4. At this point, cut scores become a self-fulfilling prophecy. NYSED can say they expect only 30% of kids to be proficient because they are setting the cut scores after they have all the data ... they set the scores to tell the story they would like to tell.

Since the introduction of Obama’s Race to the Top initiative in 2010, these Common Core tests are now being used to evaluate teachers and schools, declaring one of the best public school systems in the nation (6th in college applicants nationwide) to be failing. This way, schools can be closed and reopened as charters with a for-profit motive.

There are many other reasons to refuse these tests. If you have questions, we’d like to point you to the Facebook Group Stop Common Core in New York State. Many parents there can help answer specific questions. We hope that you, as a parent, will be able to find the right information and make the right decision for your family. 

If you find that you need a refusal letter, we have a simple, customized letter at /refusal-form