BRENTWOOD, N.Y. — The growing focus on testing in New York’sschools is sickening students, bewildering parents and threatening to undermine public confidence in the state’s education system, speaker after speaker said Tuesday at a public hearing on the state’s “reform” agenda.

Jeanette Deutermann, a mother of two from Bellmore, said she had to take one son to the doctor last year because he was so stressed out by test preparation.

“I don’t care about the data; I don’t care about the statistics,” she said. “I care that I want my son to like to learn.”

Deutermann, who started a Facebook page for parents on Long Island wanting to pull their children from state-directed tests, was addressing the state Senate’s Education Committee. The committee Tuesday held the first of four planned hearings on the state’s ongoing reforms: the Common Core learning standards; new teacher evaluations; tougher state tests; new student data systems; and more.

State Sen. John Flanagan, R-Long Island, chairman of the committee, said it was the first opportunity for the public to comment on the reforms. A few hundred people filled a small auditorium at Suffolk County Community College, cheering loudly as parents, teachers, senators and others questioned and ridiculed the state Education Department’s agenda.

Deutermann called on the seven senators in attendance to rein in the state’s reliance on testing.

“We are not going to allow our children to take part in this,” she said. “We need help.”

Many speakers questioned the results of the new state tests in English and math given in April. The state found that majorities of students across New York in grades 3 to 8 were not proficient in their subject matter.

“You should rethink your methodology,” state Sen. Jack Martins, R-Long Island, told Ken Wagner, associate state education commissioner. “I question statistics that say that 50 percent of our kids aren’t college-ready.”

Many also questioned the numerous pre- and post-tests students have to take for the new teacher evaluation system. The tests are designed to show student progress during the school year, which helps determine part of a teacher’s grade.

Marianne Adrian, a parent of three from Levittown, said that young students are affected when they take pre-tests that are really designed to show how little they know in September. Many students are taking such tests over the next few weeks.

“Once you break their confidence, it is really hard to build it up,” Adrian said.

The soft-spoken Wagner, a well-liked former school psychologist, was on the defensive from the start. Standing in for Education Commissioner John King, he was peppered with questions about the state’s rush to roll out new standards and tests.

“There always has to be a year one,” he said. Wagner conceded the state has to more effectively explain its goals to teachers and parents.

Several people also questioned the state’s plans to feed extensive student data to a nonprofit company creating a database for several educational programs. Lisa Rudley of Briarcliff Manor, a mother of three representing NYS Allies for Public Education, said that people aren’t aware of how much information is being collected or why.

“You can talk about encryption and security, but it’s civil rights violation,” she said.