Update: The number at 8 a.m. April 2 is 25,131.
A network of volunteers is tracking New York parents’ reports that they have decided to sign their kids out of Common Core tests this spring. The number at 10 p.m. ET on April 1 (no joke) was 24,316, according to Yvonne Gasperino, a mother and state leader of the grassroots rebellion against the national curriculum testing mandates.
Just four hours earlier, the count was 18,219, and the volunteers aren’t done counting. Ten parents in 30 counties across the state are working to keep tabs on the number of opt-outs, each entering numbers on a group spreadsheet. View the spreadsheet here.
“I have attended and spoken at legislators’ forums across the state, written letters and made countless phone calls, yet Albany has ignored me. Refusing the tests is the best way to send a strong and unified message to Albany that can’t be ignored,” said New York mother Julie Bigger, according to Principal Carol Burris writing in the Washington Post.
Thousands of parents have continually packed public forums and lawmaking sessions to demand student data protections and a repeal on Common Core. So far, they’ve got a two-year delay on the initiative moving through the legislature. Burris says that’s nowhere near enough. Her post explains the fury engulfing New York schools as Common Core pilot tests roll out there and across the country.
In 2013, the number of kids who opted out of testing in New York City was 320, according to NY1.
This article has been corrected with the right number of parent volunteers.
Image by Cybrarian77.
Joy Pullmann is a research fellow on education policy for The Heartland Institute and managing editor of The Federalist, a web magazine on politics, policy, and culture.
