The rise of high-stakes testing in New York and across the nation has narrowed and simplified what is taught, while becoming central to the effort to privatize public schools. However, it and similar reform efforts have met resistance, with New York as the exemplar, for how to repel standardized testing and invasive data collection, such as inBloom. In New York, the two parent/teacher organizations that have been most effective are Long Island Opt Out and New York State Allies for Public Education. The opt-out movement has been so successful that 20% of students statewide and 50% of students on Long Island refused to take tests. In Opting Out, two parent leaders of the opt-out movement—Jeanette Deutermann and Lisa Rudley—tell why and how they became activists in the two organizations. The story of parents, students, and teachers resisting not only high-stakes testing but also privatization and other corporate reforms parallels the rise of teachers across the country going on strike to demand increases in school funding and teacher salaries. Both the success of the opt-out movement and teacher strikes reflect the rise of grassroots organizing using social media to influence policy makers at the local, state, and national levels.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

David Hursh is a professor in education at the Warner School, the University of Rochester. He has researched, written, and taught about numerous aspects of education, including neoliberalism and environmental health. Over the last several years he has focused on the politics of high-stakes testing and written two books: High-Stakes Testing and the Decline of Teaching and Learning: The Real Crisis in Education (2008) and The End of Public Schools: The Corporate Reform Agenda to Privatize Education (2016). He is an associate editor of the Journal of Education Policy.

Jeanette Deutermann is the volunteer director and administrator of Long Island Opt Out and the co-founder of NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE). She holds a BS degree from SUNY Brockport and lives in Bellmore, Long Island, with her husband and two children.

Lisa Rudley is a founding member and volunteer executive director of NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE). She currently lives in Briarcliff Manor, New York, with her family. She serves as the President of the Ossining School District board and is a Senior Account Executive at Passport for Good. Lisa holds an MBA from Fordham University.

Zhe Chen is an international student from China pursuing doctoral studies in teaching & Ccurriculum at the University of Rochester. She holds two master’s degrees, one in International Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the other in education policy from the University of Rochester. Her research interests focus on educational policy in China, the United States, and elsewhere.

Sarah McGinnis is originally from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She received her undergraduate degree from Houghton College, New York, and her master’s from the University of Rochester, where she discovered the world of educational research. She is currently a doctoral student at the University of Ottawa.

Amy Stuart Wells is a Professor and the Director of the Sociology and Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She also directs several research projects, including The Public Good, a Public School Support Organization (PSSO) that applies educational research to help sustain equitable and socially just integrated K-12 schools. Wells was the 2018-19 President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), one of the largest research associations in the world. Wells’ research examines the intersection of racial inequality and educational policies. Her most recent publication is Wells, A.S.; Cordova-Cobo, D.; Keener, A. and Cabral, L. (in press, December 2019). “The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same: The Resegregation of Public Schools via Charter School Reform.” The Peabody Journal of Education.