Metro

Al Sharpton supports Common Core testing in schools

The Rev. Al Sharpton said he is squarely behind Common Core testing — and against the opt-out movement — as he urged schoolkids Saturday to take the state’s standardized tests and strike a blow for educational equity.

The test results will “show the gap between education in some areas and others,” Sharpton said at a National Action Network rally. “Why are we seeing students in some areas more able in math and English and reading and not in other areas? We need to be able to measure that and we need to be real clear about the educational inequality.”

Students in third through eighth grades begin six days of tests in English and math on Tuesday. The exams are aligned to the Common Core state standards, which New York rolled out to intense parental opposition in 2012.

Last year, 240,000 kids statewide — but only a small number in the city — opted out of the tests in protest.

Dismissing opt-out efforts as a “controversy raised by some upstate,” Sharpton said that city students, particularly minorities, have more to gain by taking the tests.