From Lohud: Schools seeing high opt-out rates

Mahopac is leading the pack, with a 50% opt-out rate

by Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

Thousands of parents expressed disapproval of the state’s reliance on standardized tests by having their children refuse to sit for the first day of testing on Tuesday.

Several districts in the Lower Hudson Valley reported that at least 25 percent of students had refused to take the tests. In at least two districts, that number rose to 50 percent. At least eight districts saw more than 30 percent of the student body refuse to take the tests. Another 14 districts reported a rate of refusal higher than 15 percent.

Mahopac’s interim schools superintendent, Brian Monahan, said 55 percent of the district’s middle school students and 45 percent of its elementary school students had refused the tests. In North Rockland, 63 percent of the district’s middle school students refused the tests, with the overall district refusal rate coming in at 49 percent. Half of Ramapo Central’s middle school students skipped the tests.

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