One day after sweeping testing announcement, New York state walks it back

One day after New York state officials announced standardized tests would not change in 2017 or 2018, the same officials quickly altered their position.

Instead of keeping tests constant for three years, as the state had announced, Chancellor Betty Rosa suggested Tuesday morning that testing changes during 2018 are still up for discussion. Later in the day, education department spokesperson Emily DeSantis confirmed Rosa’s statement.

“Given the recent events of the past month and our discussions yesterday, we are making no decisions right now about the 2018 assessments,” DeSantis said.

State officials are calling Tuesday’s announcement a “clarification,” but it directly contradicts a press release sent out by state officials on Monday. Titled “No changes to grades 3-8 ELA and math tests in 2017 or 2018,” the press release says the state considered shortening the tests to two days each, but decided that would make stable comparisons between years impossible. Both Commissioner MaryEllen Elia and Chancellor Betty Rosa are quoted in Monday’s release supporting the decision.

It’s not clear exactly what changed between Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon, but several groups expressed outrage in the interim. The state’s teachers union said the state’s initial vow not to change the tests showed a “disregard” for the concerns of educators and parents and said the decision was made without their input. “So much for listening,” the union wrote in a statement.

The state’s testing opt-out movement, which includes one in five families across the state, also pushed for more aggressive testing changes. Lisa Rudley, one of movement’s leaders said after Monday’s announcement that keeping the tests the same length through 2018 would give families a “green light” to keep boycotting.

Rudley, who is still not satisfied with the state’s decision to keep tests constant in 2017, said she is unsure whether public outcry changed officials’ minds on Monday night. But regardless, she said, the discrepancy is concerning.

“The press release said one thing, then they walked it back the next day,” Rudley said. “That’s just uncomfortable for everybody. It’s not giving us confidence in what’s happening.”

Carl Korn, spokesman for the state’s teachers union, also did not take explicit credit for the state’s change of heart, saying only, “Parents and educators together have been united in pushing back against excessive testing.”

Rosa, in her statement Tuesday morning, said she wanted to make sure the state considered input from experts, parents, teachers, educators and others who have a “vested interest in the welfare of our children” when making decisions about the 2018 tests.

Groups that supported the original announcement Monday as better for the measurement of student progress, such as High Achievement New York, were less excited about Tuesday’s change and urged the state to keep tests constant in 2018.

“Continuity matters,” said Stephen Sigmund, executive director of High Achievement New York. “Further improvements to the assessments after revised standards are rolled out make sense, but not before then. And we’re hopeful that SED sticks with its two year commitment.”

This article was first published by Chalkbeat New York on November 16.