‘Opt-outs’ increase

Contrary to federal rules requiring 95 percent student participation in the third- through eighth-grade standardized state assessments, 25 percent of Malverne students and 10 percent of those in West Hempstead opted out of the state’s English exam last week, school district officials said, leaving many wondering about the potential financial ramifications.

According to the State Education Department’s Office of Accountability, the state is expected to consider imposing sanctions on districts that fall below the 95 percent benchmark. Since many Long Island school districts fell short of the number, however, some school administrators aren’t sure the results will influence Albany’s decisions on their state aid.

“There are going to be very few districts that can say they had a 95 percent participation rate, and that’s the number one thing that the state has to deal with,” said Malverne Superintendent Dr. James Hunderfund. “It’s between New York state and the federal government as to what that formula for aid will be — and if anything is enforced.”

John Hogan, superintendent of the West Hempstead School District, said this year was the first time student participation in the exams had fallen below 95 percent in his district.

According to Hunderfund, there are many different “cells” that are now being measured in each school district for each test — like educationally disadvantaged and special-education students — and all of them must meet the minimum participation rate in order to qualify for the Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP designation. “Thousands of schools are going to have those checks now,” said Hunderfund. “… Is it going to be enforced? I don’t know — but the law permits this to happen.”

The bigger concern for Hunderfund and Hogan are the state’s requirements for their Annual Professional Performance Review plans. The APPR measures and assigns a rating to every teacher and principal, of their effectiveness, and uses that information to determine each district’s state aid.