The city’s opt-out movement, by the numbers

The number of city students who declined to take the state tests reached an all-time high this year, officials said Wednesday, and new data from the city offers the most in-depth look yet into the small but growing movement.

In just two years, its numbers have jumped from just over 350 students to more than 7,900, with a presence in most parts of the city. That amounted to 1.8 percent of city students opting out of the math tests and 1.4 percent in reading — far smaller than the 20 percent of students who opted out statewide.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of exactly where students opted out:

Top schools

  • P.S. 146 in Brooklyn – 298 students in English, 295 in math
  • P.S. 321 William Penn – 243 in English, 250 in math
  • P.S. 261 Philip Livingston – 230 in English, 243 in math
  • Brooklyn Secondary School for Collaborative Studies – 234 in English, 235 in math
  • Academy of Arts and Letters in Brooklyn – 182 in English, 197 in math
  • Institute for Collaborative Education – 170 in English, 171 in math
  • Earth School – 104 in English, 105 in math
  • Neighborhood School – 93 in English, 99 in math
  • Riverdale Avenue Community School – 89 in English, 88 in math
  • P.S. 29 John M. Harrigan – 77 in English, 79 in math

Top districts

  • Brooklyn’s District 15  – 1,452 students in English, 1,659 in math
  • Manhattan’s District 1 – 364 in English, 374 in math
  • Staten Island, District 31 – 209 in English, 451 in math
  • Manhattan’s District 2 – 250 in English, 366 in math
  • Brooklyn’s District 13 – 269 in English, 309 in math

By borough

  • Brooklyn: 1,970 students in English, 2,405 in math
  • Manhattan: 957 in English, 1,153 in math
  • Queens: 473 in English, 824 in math
  • Bronx: 300 in English, 599 in math
  • Staten Island: 209 in English, 451 in math

Looking for more on the city’s 2015 state test results? Start here, then check out the schools that saw their average scores change the most and an analysis of the opt-out movement’s growth.