Res 0577-2015

By Council Member Rosenthal, Dromm, Chin, Johnson, Rose, Wills, Mendez, Rodriguez, Levine, Barron, Constantinides, Kallos, Lander and Levin Whereas, The Federal No Child Left behind Act requires states to define challenging academic standards and administer high-quality assessments to students to measure progress against expectations for student achievement; and Whereas, New York State was one of the first states to align standardized tests with the Common Core Standards and 2013 was the first year that students sat for the Common Core aligned test; and Whereas, New York City elementary and middle school students take yearly state tests in core academic subjects to assess their mastery of the Common Core learning standards; and Whereas, Yearly test results are one of the factors used to determine whether or not to promote the student to the next grade; and Whereas, In New York City, the scores dropped drastically in 2013, and only 26% of students in grades 3-8 passed the English test, and only 30% of students in grades 3-8 passed the Math test; and Whereas, There is a growing opt out movement in New York City and in 2013, 276 families opted out of the state standardized test; and Whereas, In March of 2014, Chancellor Carmen Farina distributed a guide to school administrators detailing how to communicate with parents who have expressed their desire to opt their child out of the test; the guide stated that the administrator should respect the parents' decision and tell the parents the possible consequences of opting out of the state exam; and Whereas, Decades of research has shown that parent involvement is critical to student success; and Whereas, The Department of Education recognizes the importance of parent involvement and has created the parent academy, the parent conference series, and now employs parent coordinators to facilitate parental involvement; and Whereas, The Parent's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities was created by the Department of Education and is published on the department's website to foster active engagement between parents and schools because the DOE recognizes that children excel when parents work closely with teachers and principals to develop strong partnerships ; and Whereas, The Parent's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities spells out the rights and responsibilities of parents and families to help ensure that all students get a quality education; and Whereas, The Parent's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities does not include any information about opting out of the standardized exams; and Whereas, The Parent's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities can currently be accessed via the DOE's website and is available in several languages but is not distributed to families and caregivers at all public schools; and Whereas, The Parent's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities should be amended to include information about opting out of standardized tests; and Whereas, All of New York City parents should have access to the Parent's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities; now therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York City Department of Education to amend the Parent's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities to include information about opting out of high-stakes testing and distribute this document at the beginning of every school year, to every family, in every grade. _____ LS#2874 1/16/15 K.W. - 2 -