Common Core opponents hold Valley Stream meeting to recruit more minority parents

Speakers before a cheering crowd of more than 200 people in Valley Stream Wednesday night called on parents and teachers from diverse communities to unite behind the fight against high-stakes standardized testing driven by Common Core standards.

Advocates and educators emphasized the difficulties faced by English-learners, as well as special education and poor students in meeting state benchmarks -- sending a clear signal that the movement to opt out of the tests is only revving up for another year of battle.

Elias Mestizo, a middle school teacher in Hempstead, spoke of his rise as a Salvadoran immigrant who didn't speak English but attended Freeport schools and went on to college and to educate others. Rigorous testing would have been a barrier in his path, he said.

"Like me, the students who are in the process of learning English will most likely not score well" on the tests, Mestizo said, "yet their teachers will be penalized" for low test scores. "It is our moral imperative to reach every parent and show them the truth behind the tests."

Jamaal A. Bowman, a guest speaker who is principal for the Cornerstone Academy For Social Action in the Bronx, said communities "have to come together across race, across class" for the sake of children.

The meeting at American Legion Post 854 came hours after the New York State Education Department defended its push for more rigorous testing aligned with the Common Core academic standards, saying the results remain "an important source of objective information" that can help guide efforts to reach and teach all students.

Long Island opponents of more rigorous tests held Wednesday night's's meeting partly to motivate more parents from minority communities to join them.

Long Island has been the epicenter of the opt-out movement in New York. Suffolk and Nassau counties led the state in the number of test opt-outs, or refusals, last spring. More than 70,000 of the estimated 200,000 students in grades 3 through 8 statewide who sat out English and math tests were from the region.

Opponents of Common Core believe the tests have become the main focus of classwork.

Long Island school districts in large immigrant communities have seen fewer parents and their children joining the movement to opt out of the tests. For example, the districts of Brentwood, Central Islip, Elmont, Freeport, Glen Cove, Hempstead and Roosevelt -- communities with significant minority populations -- reported relatively high participation on the state tests in April.

Advocates believe Hispanics in particular haven't been involved, partly because immigrant newcomers did not get information in their language and also because many don't know their rights. Some may just trust the education system to take care of their children, the Common Core opponents said.

State education department spokesman Dennis Tompkins said Common Core gives the progress of students in more diverse communities.

"Without an objective measure of their progress, it was easy to deny special education students and English language learners the extra resources they need," he said.

George Siberón, executive director of the Hempstead Hispanic Civic Association, expressed disappointment that only about a dozen Hispanic parents attended the meeting.

"These tests are given to our recent arrivals," he said, "and of course they are not going to pass them, and what will that do to their morale?"