In the remarkable 2014 film “Whiplash,” J.K. Simmons plays Terence Fletcher, a maniacal music professor at an elite East Coast conservatory bent on producing the next truly great jazz musician . . . more

Nearly 95,000 Long Island children in grades three through eight — roughly 52 percent of the total — did not take the New York state standardized English Language Arts exam last week, as the “opt-out” movement continued . . . more

The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District again had among the highest percentages of students in Nassau County opting out of the state English Language Arts exams last week, with 73 percent of seventh- and eighth-grade students sitting out the exams. more

I want to enumerate the many reasons I’m so against making test scores count for 50 percent of the ratings. more

It makes psychological sense that in a culture where we are gradually losing control of decision-making and privacy, people would glom onto any power play that offers the illusion of autonomy. more

The North Merrick School District announced in March that each of its schools — Camp Avenue, Fayette and Old Mill Road — had qualified for a $75,000 “Reward School Dissemination Grant” from the state Education Department due to their students’ high performance on state assessment tests in 2011 and 2012. more

When New York state debuted new standardized tests for third- to eighth-graders in English and math last year, a handful of Merrick parents told school administrators that they would not allow their children to take them. Earlier this month, the number of students whose parents have joined this protest nearly doubled at Merrick Avenue Middle School, more than doubled in the North Merrick School District and more than tripled in the Merrick School District. more

In a package full of life’s little necessities, every Finnish newborn receives a precious gift –– a set of three books, courtesy of the government. more

A handful of parents in Merrick and North Merrick told school administrators that they would refuse to allow their children to sit for new standardized state exams, which began in elementary schools around the state this week. The parents, who believe that the standardized exams lack pedagogical merit and are harmful to students, say they would like to see a grass-roots civil-disobedience movement involving other parents taking the same action that would force the state to cancel the exams. In all, 50 students did not take the exams on Tuesday, the first day they were administered, according to officials in both districts. more

Next week, when students return to classes, they will be greeted by new teachers, meet some new classmates and may even notice the shiny floors and clean desks. more