A Rockland County Parent GOES OFF on Untimed Testing in NY State!

I don't normally post about the opt out movement and state tests. I know that we have wonderful people in our community who are much better informed than I and keep us up to date on the latest information so that we can make informed decisions on what is best for our children. However, I AM SO IRATE, MY BLOOD IS BOILING and I cannot remain silent. In hopes that you will all read this, I will try to make it brief. This year, the powers that be decided they would make a big change- the tests would be untimed. When I first heard that, I thought- wow! that is HUGE! It could be a really great thing, or an enormous disaster. Either way, I thought it was an interesting "experiment" , and was curious if it would help more children than it hurt. Just so you understand, there was ZERO time limit on this test. A child could sit with it ALL DAY- and reports are in that many did. Keep in mind, many of the kids taking this test are 8 years old. Also, please keep in mind the logistics- The staff people required to proctor these children until the tests are done, the space within the building to have these children take this test until they are done, the instructional time lost for all these children until they are done..... IN EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL IN THE STATE. We are talking huuuuuge numbers both financially and educationally. So one would think, if you are going to invest all this time and money into this idea of an untimed test, presumably to relieve some stress and allow for better performance, wouldn't you want to know if it worked????? Wouldn't you think the state would want to see how long it took for children to take the exam? If the children who took longer performed better? What the average time frame was? If the length of time the kids took on the exam differed by grade level or by school district? There are so many interesting questions that one would ASSUME the state would want the answers to from an experiment of this magnitude. BUT GUESS WHAT??????? We aren't getting any answers! We will never know if this is worth all the time, hassle, money and burden on some children. DO YOU KNOW WHY???? THE STATE COLLECTED NO DATA!!!! YOU HEARD ME!!!!! ZILCH!!!!! nowhere on the exam did teachers have to report how long it took the student to take the test!!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!! They don't care!!!! The state doesn't know if it took you kid 40 minutes or 4 hours to finish their exam. This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. All the staffing, juggling, stress put on the students who just hold on to their unfinished exams, etc. They don't care to know if it was worth it. They experiment with our children yet again FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I am thoroughly disgusted. MIC DROP