Reading and Mathematics Score Trends

(Last Updated: February 2014)

NAEP long-term trend results indicate that the average reading and mathematics achievement of 9- and 13-year-olds improved between the early 1970s and 2012; however, only 13-year-olds made score gains from 2008 to 2012, and they did so in both subject areas. Average reading and mathematics achievement for 17-year- olds did not change significantly between the early 1970s and 2012 or between 2008 and 2012.

Since the 1970s, the long-term trend National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has collected periodic information on the reading and mathematics achievement of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-olds enrolled in public and private schools. Long-term trend NAEP results may differ from the main NAEP results presented in other National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) publications since the long-term trend assessment measures a consistent body of knowledge and skills over an extended period, while the main NAEP undergoes changes periodically to reflect current curricula and emerging standards.¹

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Figure 1. Average reading scale scores on the long-term trend National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), by age: Selected years, 1971 through 2012

NOTE: Includes public and private schools. NAEP scores range from 0 to 500. Several administrative changes were initiated beginning with the 2004 assessment, including allowing accommodations for students with disabilities and for English language learners. To assess the impact of these revisions, two assessments were conducted in 2004, one based on the original assessment and one based on the revised assessment. In 2008 and 2012, only the revised assessment was used.
SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics (2013). The Nation’s Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress 2012 (NCES 2013-456). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. See Digest of Education Statistics 2013, table 221.85.

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The national trend in reading achievement shows improvement at ages 9 and 13, but not at age 17, between the early 1970s and 2012. The average scores for 9- and 13-year-olds in 2012 were higher than those in 1971 (13 and 8 points higher, respectively), but the average score for 17-year-olds in 2012 (287) was not measurably different from the score in 1971. For 9-year-olds, the average score did not change measurably between 2012 (221) and 2008, but it was higher in each of these years than in all previous assessment years. Thirteen-year-olds scored higher in 2012 (263) than in all previous assessment years, including 3 points higher than in 2008. The average score for 17-year-olds in 2012 was not measurably different from the score in 2008.

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Figure 2. Average mathematics scale scores on the long-term trend National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), by age: Selected years, 1973 through 2012

NOTE: Includes public and private schools. NAEP scores range from 0 to 500. Several administrative changes were initiated beginning with the 2004 assessment, including allowing accommodations for students with disabilities and for English language learners. To assess the impact of these revisions, two assessments were conducted in 2004, one based on the original assessment and one based on the revised assessment. In 2008 and 2012, only the revised assessment was used.
SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics (2013). The Nation’s Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress 2012 (NCES 2013-456). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. See Digest of Education Statistics 2013, table 222.85.

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The national trend in mathematics achievement shows improvement at ages 9 and 13, but not at age 17, between the early 1970s and 2012. The average scores for 9- and 13-year-olds in 2012 were higher than those in 1973 (25 and 19 points higher, respectively), but the average score for 17-year-olds in 2012 (306) was not measurably different from the score in 1973. For 9-year-olds, the average score did not change measurably between 2012 (244) and 2008, but it was higher in each of these two years than in all previous assessment years. ² Thirteen-year-olds scored higher in 2012 (285) than in all previous assessment years, including 4 points higher than in 2008. The average score for 17-year-olds in 2012 was not measurably different from the score in 2008.

Closing achievement gaps is a goal of both national and state education policies. The results from the 2012 NAEP long-term trend assessments show some progress toward meeting that goal. For example, from the 1970s to 2012 the White-Black and White-Hispanic score gaps in reading and mathematics narrowed as a result of Black and Hispanic students making larger gains in achievement during that period than White students.

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Figure 3. Average reading scale scores on the long-term trend National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for 13-year-olds, by race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1971 through 2012

NOTE: Includes public and private schools. NAEP scores range from 0 to 500. Several administrative changes were initiated beginning with the 2004 assessment, including allowing accommodations for students with disabilities and for English language learners. To assess the impact of these revisions, two assessments were conducted in 2004, one based on the original assessment and one based on the revised assessment. In 2008 and 2012, only the revised assessment was used.
SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics (2013). The Nation’s Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress 2012 (NCES 2013-456). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. See Digest of Education Statistics 2013, table 221.85.

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In reading, the White-Black and White-Hispanic reading gaps narrowed from the 1970s to 2012 at ages 9, 13, and 17, even though the average reading score of White students remained 21 or more points higher than the average scores for Black and Hispanic students in 2012. At age 13, Blacks and Hispanics both made larger gains in reading scores from the 1970s to 2012 than did White students, leading to a narrowing of the White-Black and White-Hispanic score gaps in 2012. From 1971 to 2012, White 13-year-olds had a 9-point gain, and Black 13-year-olds had a 24-point gain. Larger gains for Black than for White 13-year-olds during the period narrowed the White-Black gap from 39 points in 1971 to 23 points in 2012. Similarly, Hispanic students age 13 had a 17-point gain in reading from 1975 to 2012, which narrowed the White-Hispanic gap from 30 points in 1975 to 21 points in 2012. Hispanic 13-year-olds were the only racial/ethnic group to make reading score gains from 2008 to 2012. The White-Hispanic gap for 13-year-olds narrowed 5 points from 2008 to 2012.

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Figure 4. Average mathematics scale scores on the long-term trend National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for 17-year-olds, by race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1973 through 2012

NOTE: Includes public and private schools. NAEP scores range from 0 to 500. Several administrative changes were initiated beginning with the 2004 assessment, including allowing accommodations for students with disabilities and for English language learners. To assess the impact of these revisions, two assessments were conducted in 2004, one based on the original assessment and one based on the revised assessment. In 2008 and 2012, only the revised assessment was used.
SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics (2013). The Nation’s Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress 2012 (NCES 2013-456). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. See Digest of Education Statistics 2013, table 222.85.

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In mathematics, the White-Black gap narrowed from the 1970s to 2012 at ages 9, 13, and 17, even though the average mathematics score of White students remained 25 or more points higher than the average score for Black students in 2012. The White-Hispanic mathematics gap also narrowed from 1973 to 2012 at ages 13 and 17, but it did not change significantly at age 9. For example, average mathematics scores for 17-year-olds increased 4 points for White students, 18 points for Black students, and 17 points for Hispanic students from 1973 to 2012. As a result, both the White-Black score gap and the White-Hispanic score gap for 17-year-olds narrowed 14 points during this period. For 17-year-old students, the White-Black score gap narrowed from 40 points in 1973 to 26 points in 2012, and the White-Hispanic score gap narrowed from 33 to 19 points over the same period. There were no significant changes, however, from 2008 to 2012 in the White-Black or White-Hispanic score gaps for 17-year-olds.

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¹ Several administrative changes, including the addition of allowing accommodations for students with disabilities and for English language learners, were initiated in the 2004 long-term trend assessment and have been carried forward in more recent data collections. Despite these changes to the assessment, the trend analysis is still valid.
² Except in 2004 for the original unrevised assessment. Scores from the original and revised assessments are not directly comparable, and comparisons should be made with caution.

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Glossary terms: Achievement gap
Data Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

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Reference Tables

• Table 221.85 (Digest 2013): Average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading scale score, by age and selected student characteristics: Selected years, 1971 through 2012
• Table 222.85 (Digest 2013): Average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics scale score, by age and selected student characteristics: Selected years, 1973 through 2012

Related Indicators

• Reading Performance
• Mathematics Performance

Previous Versions of This Indicator

• April 2013 - (130 KB)

Private School : Academic Performance Resources

Outlook Articles on Academic Performance

June 2012: NAEP Science December 2011: NAEP Math and Reading October 2011: Ninth-Grade Achievement September 2011: NAEP History and Geography February 2011: NAEP Science November 2009: NAEP Math: Are Reforms Working? May 2009: NAEP Math and Reading September 2003: SAT Scores for Class of 2003 September 2002: SAT Scores for Class of 2002 June 2002: Government Report on Private Schools December 2001: Private Schools Outpace National Average on AP Exams December 2001: Private School Students Above Average on Science Tests September 2001: High College-Going Rates for Minorities in Private Schools May 2001: Achievement Gap Narrower in Private Schools December 2000: Private Schools Above Average on International Tests September 2000: Private School Students Bolster National Exam Scores December 1999: Private School Students Score Above Average in Civics October 1999: The Private High School: Caring Community, Tough Curriculum October 1999: National Report Card on Writing: Needs Improvement

Achievement Gap Narrower in Religious Schools

April 6, 2007--What can be done to narrow the achievement gap? That question, in one form or another, has been challenging policy makers for decades. Grand national strategies, like the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Head Start, and the No Child Left Behind Act, have been promoted by presidents and passed by Congress to help address the problem through expensive programmatic and instructional interventions. But what if the solution to the achievement gap is to be found in other domains, such as school culture, family support, or religious commitment?

Percentage Increase in Standardized Test Scores of 12th Grade Religious School Students Compared to Public School Students, After Controlling for SES and Gender
Subject	Black and Latino	White
Reading	4.6%	3.4%
Mathematics	4.2%	3.0%
Social Studies	5.2%	3.4%
Science	2.0%	1.2%
Total Composite	4.8%	3.8%

On April 3 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Dr. William H. Jeynes, a professor at California State University at Long Beach and a scholar with the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, released a study showing that the achievement gap between majority students and minority students, as well as between students of high- and low-socioeconomic status, is significantly narrower in religious schools than in public schools. The study also found that “when African American and Latino children who are religious and come from intact families are compared with white students, the achievement gap disappears.”

Jeynes drew much of his data from the massive National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS:88), which tracked a nationally representative sample of eighth graders through high school and beyond. NELS:88 provides data on a host of school and student variables, allowing Jeynes to look at whether schools were religiously affiliated and to examine other factors like school culture, curriculum, race relations, discipline, violence, and homework practices. The student questionnaire enabled Jeynes to isolate students who considered themselves “very religious,” those who were actively involved in religious youth groups, and those that regularly attended religious services. He also examined other variables, such as test results, socioeconomic status, race, gender, and family structure.

The NELS data showed that twelfth-grade religious school students in all SES quartiles achieved at higher levels than their counterparts in public schools, with the religious school advantage being highest for students in the lowest SES quartile. Religious school students in the bottom SES quartile had a 7.6 percent advantage in reading scores over similar public school students, while students in the highest SES quartile had a somewhat lower 5.2 percent advantage.

Looking at achievement by race, Jeynes found similar results: higher overall achievement for both minority and majority students in religious schools when compared to their counterparts in public schools, but with minority students (i.e., African American and Latino students) enjoying an even greater religious school advantage than white students. For example, before controlling for gender and SES, black and Latino students scored 8.2 percent higher than their public school counterparts in reading achievement, while white students scored 6.0 percent higher than their counterparts. But even after controlling for gender and SES (see chart), black and Latino students outscored their public school peers in reading by 4.6 percent, while white students did so by 3.4 percent.

With the achievement advantage among religious school students greater for low-SES students than high-SES students and greater for minority students than majority students, Jeynes concluded that both the SES and racial achievement gaps are narrower in religious schools than public schools.

Turning to the more complicated question of why religious schools have a narrower achievement gap, Jeynes examined factors relating to school culture, family, social capital, and religious commitment. Although the methodology did not allow a determination of the cause or causes of the higher student performance in religious schools, the study offered some interesting candidates and correlations.

Exploring the role played by school culture, Jeynes statistically examined five separate components, namely, school atmosphere, racial harmony, level of school discipline, school violence, and amount of homework done. According to the report, “The results demonstrate that religious schools outperform nonreligious schools in all of the five school trait categories and in nearly all of the individual questions that make up those categories.” The study also found that religious school students enjoyed an advantage over public school students in the three learning habits that were most strongly related to academic achievement: taking harder courses, diligence, and overall work habits.

Jeynes reviewed the research literature for clues about other possible explanations for private school achievement. Parental involvement, religiously committed parents, intact families, and caring teachers were all potential contributing factors. Jeynes also explained that religious schools encourage a religious commitment among students, which could affect achievement because of an associated religious work ethic, a stronger internal “locus of control,” and “the tendency for religious people to avoid behaviors that are typically regarded as undisciplined and harmful to educational achievement.”

In connection with what he described as one of the study’s most notable findings, Jeynes looked at what happens to the achievement gap for religiously committed students from intact families. He found what he called an “amazing” result: “The achievement gap disappears.” Put another way, “[W]hen the data are adjusted for SES and gender, black and Hispanic adolescents who are religious and from intact families do just as well academically as white students.”

Turning to the policy implications of the study, Jeynes suggested that “showing that factors as simple as religious commitment, religious schools, and family structure can reduce or eliminate the gap may inspire educators and social scientists to encourage policies that are supportive of faith and the family so that the gap can be narrowed significantly.” He argued that including private schools in school choice initiatives “conceivably could improve the overall quality of the U.S. education system,” and he suggested that public schools “can benefit by imitating some of the strengths of the religious school model.”

Jeynes concluded that “religious education is a vibrant part of the education system in the United States” and called for further study on “why students from religious schools outperform students in public schools.”

Related Links:

• Link to the Study

Via: www.capenet.org 

Students Exceed SAT Benchmark and Lift National Average

October 2, 2013 -- Average SAT scores for 2013 graduates from religious and independent schools significantly exceeded the SAT College and Career Readiness Benchmark, a combined score of 1550 on three SAT tests (critical reading, writing, and mathematics) that is associated with success in college.

For college-bound seniors in independent schools across the nation, the combined average SAT score was 1662 (112 points above the benchmark) while the average for religious school students was 1595 (45 points above the benchmark).  Public school students scored 1474, 76 points shy of the standard.

In each of the subjects tested, SAT scores for college-bound seniors in religious and independent schools were significantly higher than the national average, actually helping to boost the average.  Mean SAT scores for students in public schools were 491 in reading, 480 in writing, and 503 in math, while comparable scores for students in religious schools were 531, 528, and 536.  Students in independent schools scored 536, 545, and 581.

Among SAT class of 2013 students for whom a high school is known, 9.4 percent attended a religiously affiliated school, 6.4 percent attended an independent school, and 84 percent attended a public school.

Find out more in the October 2013 Outlook.

via: www.capenet.com 

Private School : Students Boost National SAT Scores

November 3, 2014 -- The headlines in early October captured some of the story:  “2014 SAT Scores Remain Stagnant,” “Student Performance Stalls on SAT.”  They reflected what the College Board itself reported:  SAT scores for the 2014 crop of high school graduates were stubbornly stuck at levels “similar to other recent senior classes.”

But the fixation on stagnation largely ignored another important element of the story:  scores varied significantly by the type of school students attended.  It turns out that students who graduated from religious and independent schools had scores that substantially outdistanced those of students in public schools and actually helped lift the national average.  Mean SAT scores for public school seniors were 492 in reading, 478 in writing, and 501 in math.  Comparable scores for students in independent schools were 535, 542, and 580.  Meanwhile, students in religious schools scored 533, 527, and 537 (see table).

Find out more about how private school students did on the SATs in the November 2014 issue of CAPE Outlook.

via: www.capenet.org

"A Good Budget For Schools"

 Article Via: The Editors, Observer - April 2015

New Yorkers protesting Mr. Cuomo on NYC Public Library Steps

Whatever else may be said about Gov. Andrew Cuomo, nobody can ever complain that his budgets are late. He and his colleagues in the Legislature delivered another on-time spending plan in late March, and this one contained no dramatic tax hikes and no spending sprees. As these things go, that makes for a pretty good document.

But there was more to it than that. Budgets may be filled with dense prose and eye-glazing numbers, but they are also intensely political statements reflecting the priorities of the governor and, to a lesser extent, of the Legislature as well.

This year’s budget contained plenty of good news for those who wish to shake up the status quo in public education in New York and continue the process of revolutionizing how our children are taught and what should be expected of those who teach them.

The head of the city teachers’ union, Michael Mulgrew, announced that the governor had declared war on teachers. That’s a curious way to look at a budget that increases state spending on schools by $1.4 billion.

Included in the $142 billion spending plan are reforms that will bring greater accountability into the classroom—or else. Teachers will be evaluated based on student standardized test scores, as well as observations, including one from an outside arbiter. Standardized test scores will count for 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation.
Not surprisingly, the head of the city teachers’ union, Michael Mulgrew, announced that the governor had declared war on teachers. That’s a curious way to look at a budget that increases state spending on schools by $1.4 billion. Mr. Cuomo chose to look at the budget in a very different way. It was, he said, the most pro-teacher budget in state history.

The results of truly transformative educational policy are becoming so clear that even reactionaries like Mr. Mulgrew can no longer ignore them. As The New York Times showed the other day, Success Academies—the charters led by Eva Moskowitz—are achieving startling results thanks to greater accountability, flexibility and creativity in the classrooms. The teachers’ union, of course, has nothing but contempt for Ms. Moskowitz and her schools.
The governor is a good deal more open-minded on the subject, which is why the teachers’ unions ramped up their rhetoric against him during the late stages of budget talks. When it came time to round up votes, Mr. Cuomo outmaneuvered and out-politicked the teachers’ union. That’s no small feat.

Quietly but effectively, Mr. Cuomo has provided the adult supervision so desperately needed in Albany these days.
                                            It’s a record of achievement some other governors only wish they had.

Parents all over U.S. 'opting out' of standardized student testing

Via: CNN Digital Correspondent Kelly Wallace - April 24, 2015



Since one of my daughters is taking the public school state tests for the first time this year, I thought I paid fairly close attention to the debate surrounding the tests themselves, and the concern that schools are too focused on "teaching to the test."

 The high-stakes of standardized tests

I heard that some parents might engage in a form of civil disobedience and "opt out" -- they would refuse to let their children take the tests. I thought only a few were making that stand.

But then I learned from a friend whose daughter attends a Long Island school that only two kids in her third-grade class took the test. That means 20 or more of her classmates didn't. 

I saw local media reports about similar stories in other schools on Long Island, in New York City and its surrounding areas, and in upstate New York.

Something bigger is going on, I thought.

Just how many students opt out this year won't officially be known until this summer when the state education department releases test scores. But, according to one of the groups leading the opt-out movement here -- the New York State Allies for Public Education -- 156,000 students refused to take this week's English exam, and that's with just from 50% of the districts reporting their numbers.

With approximately 1.1 million students eligible to take the tests in grades 3-8 in New York, that means at least 14% of students are projected to sit out this year. According to the state education department, last year about 49,000 (4%) didn't have a known valid reason for not taking the English test and 67,000 (6%) didn't take the math exam.

"I'm ecstatic," said Bianca Tanis, a co-founder of the New York opt-out group. "I guess I'm not really surprised, because I think we could all feel this coming."

"For the past two years, parents have been lobbying the governor, the Board of Regents, the legislature, demanding a reduction in high-stakes testing, demanding to have their classrooms be returned and we've been ignored, and enough is enough," said Tanis. Her children, ages 10 and 14, are not taking the tests.

Adding to parents' anger and frustration were reforms pushed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that would evaluate teachers more heavily based on test scores.

"So we were really left with no choice," Tanis said. "Rather than responding to parent concerns, he doubled down on the use of testing."

Opinion: Why Common Core tests are bad

The Board of Regents says the tests provide an "important source of objective information" to see where students are and what help they need but should never be the only measure of students' progress.

"Those who call for 'opting out' really want New York to 'opt out' of information that can help parents and teachers understand how well students are doing," said Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the Board of Regents, in a recent statement.

"We cannot go back to ignoring the needs of our children. It's time to stop making noise to protect the adults and start speaking up for the students," Tisch said.

Opting out across the country

New York is not an isolated case. Examples of the fallout from rigorous annual testing are popping up nationwide.

Earlier this week, some Atlanta educators were sentenced to prison time after a massive cheating scandal. Administrators and teachers were convicted of racketeering and other crimes related to inflating test scores of students from struggling schools.

In New Jersey, lawmakers recently approved a measure that would require schools to accommodate parents who opt out of testing by providing alternative activities such as independent reading for their children.

And in Indiana, the state's 2015 superintendent of the year recommended that parents home-school their children during the testing weeks instead of having them take the tests.

Opinion: Common Core promotes student success

"We've heard from almost every state in the country there's opting out going on," said Monty Neill, executive director of the testing reform advocacy group FairTest. "Last year, we probably heard from half."

Neill chalks up the growing movement to an increasing number of parents who believe there's too much testing and that's it's not educationally helpful.

"There've been a number of surveys in states as well as national surveys that are showing (frustration with testing) as a reaction among parents and the public generally, so there's a sense that this testing has just gone round the bend," said Neill, a former educator and school administrator who has been leading FairTest for nearly 28 years.

Also in the mix are parents' frustration with more rigorous academic standards called Common Core, which have been implemented in 46 states and the District of Columbia, and upon which the state tests are based.

Tanis, who is also a special education teacher, said there is "no flexibility" in the standards. And, she says, given the high stakes of the testing, "you are saying to teachers, OK, you have to fit in all these standards by April, and so the test starts driving the pace of instruction."

Speaking out on social media 

When I posted on my Facebook page that I was interested in hearing from parents who opted out and promised I would share their comments without identifying them, I got an earful: They say the tests are developmentally inappropriate, too long and difficult, and shouldn't be used to evaluate teachers.

Prison time for some Atlanta school educators in cheating scandal

"To me we are setting our kids up to fail. The reading passages are three levels above the child's current grade level," said a teacher and a mom of two who has opted out her kids for the past two years. "Many teachers have posted that their students were crying because they did not have enough time to finish the test and bubbled in random answers."

Another mom of two, who also opted out, argued that the tests don't benefit the children -- they only benefit the industry behind Common Core and the tests themselves.

"Unfortunately, these tests have nothing to do with determining the effectiveness of teachers," she said. "The more research I did, the more disgusted I became. It's all about money and our kids are pawns. It's very scary and it's unfolding before our eyes."

Tanis, the New York opt-out group leader, said the movement is not "anti-testing. We are anti-these tests."

Tanis said she got involved in the movement after she tried to keep her younger son, who has autism, from taking the test two years ago. 

While he loved school and had terrific teachers, he was still far below grade level and she didn't think it made sense to put a test in front of him that he couldn't read, "let alone even cognitively understand exactly why he was being given a test that was so far above his grade level."

She said that at every turn, she was told her son was absolutely obligated to take the test. The law is the law, she was told. It wasn't until other parents started refusing to have their children take it that she felt free, too, to refuse for her son.

 The great homework debate: Too much, too little or busy work?

"I think the awareness of how flawed these tests are, and the ramifications, have taken time for everybody to understand ... but the fact that these tests are abusive for students with disabilities and English language learners was really easy for people to see."

To that point, Tisch, of the New York State Board of Regents, has said that the tests actually help the most vulnerable children in our schools, whose needs were too often disregarded in years past.

"Without an objective measure of their progress, it was easy to deny special education students and English-language learners the extra resources they need," she said. "Opting out could cost us much of the progress we have made and damage the work that still needs to be done for our most vulnerable students."

In the middle of the debate are parents and teachers who feel there could be improvement to the Common Core and that schools should not be teaching to the test, while also believing the standards and the tests help kids learn to solve problems and think in ways many of us didn't when we were growing up.

"It's really a way of making children think for themselves and have teachers speak less and students become more responsible for their learning," said a teacher and a mom of two who didn't want to be identified. "I feel the teaching has become better because of what's expected. Where we go wrong is understanding that the Common Core is a guideline and we still have to meet the needs of the students where they are academically."

She also said parents -- rather than educators -- too often are the ones putting too much stress on students about the test.

What happens if students don't take the tests?

Under federal regulations, if fewer than 95% of students at a school participate in the state tests, that school could lose federal funding, according to the New York State Department of Education.

That message was reportedly conveyed by some school districts in letters to parents that said state aid could be withheld if too many children boycott the tests.

But Neill of FairTest says people don't believe that will ever happen.

"They don't believe the loss of federal money because it's basically not really true," he said. In fact, no school district to date in New York has lost money for not meeting the 95% requirement for student testing, according to a state education department spokesperson.

"They're trying to basically bully parents into toeing the line and at least in a lot of places, it's not working," Neill said.

How can we compete globally?

I posed the question to Tanis: If we don't have difficult tests and tough standards, how will we compete globally, against children from countries where rigor is the norm?

The United States has the largest number of patents per capita in the world, she noted. "So we are an extremely innovative society, and the system that they're imposing diminishes innovation, diminishes creativity." 

That may be the heart of the debate -- a debate that is likely only going to intensify because the opt-out movement is gaining in strength, and that means at some point lawmakers may have to start listening.

Do you think there is now too much of an emphasis on testing in public schools? Share your thoughts with Kelly Wallace on Twitter or CNN Living on Facebook.