Raising the Passing Grade on NY State Tests for Math and English Language Arts-What It Means to Pelham

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dennis Lauro Jr. Reports:

— What It Means to Pelham —

By Dr. Dennis Lauro, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

During the past month, New York State Education Commissioner David Steiner has been meeting with school officials to discuss student performance on Math and English Language Arts State assessments in Grades 3 through 8 and the passing grade (either 55 or 65) on the Regents exams. Based on his department’s analysis of test results and other data, he has recommended raising the cutoff point that indicates when a child in Grade 3 through 8 has met the State standards in these subjects with a score of Level 3 or proficiency. The change is going into effect immediately and will be reflected on tests taken this past April and May.

As part of his presentation, Dr. Steiner identified several criteria for measuring the validity of these scores:

• How do Level 3 or proficiency level scores on Grades 3 through 8 tests correlate with performance on high school Regents exams in these two subjects?
• What does passing with a 55 or 65 on the Math or English Regents tell us about a student’s readiness for college?
• How do results on NYS tests compare with the performance of students on the federally sponsored National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests?

The conclusions of his analysis were sobering but not a surprise. Attaining Level 3 or proficiency in Grades 3 through 8 or passing the Regents with a 55 or 65 do not necessarily indicate future success. In fact, students at the current Level 3 proficiency standard on their 8th grade math exam have less than a 1 in 3 chance of earning an 80 on their Math Regents. Students who score below an 80 in Math or 75 in English have a much greater likelihood of being placed in a remedial college course. SUNY campuses use 85 as a mark of solid competence.

Similarly, in the comparison with the NAEP tests, New York’s proficiency/Level 3 threshold ranks 18th among all states for 8th grade math. The NYS cutoff score was 11 percentile points easier in ELA and 17 percentile points easier in Math in 2009 than in 2007 when benchmarked against NAEP performance.

The implications of these findings all point in one direction: the cutoff scores for attaining proficiency or passing the Regents exams are too low and need to be raised. The data indicate that NYS assessments were not properly calibrated for the determination of an acceptable score for proficiency.

In addition to raising the cutoff score for attaining proficiency on Grades 3 through 8 assessments in Math and ELA, Dr. Steiner has made it clear that schools can also expect exams to be less predicable, test more areas in each subject as well as be longer in the future. As he said, “Proficiency on our exams has to mean something real. No good purpose is served when we say that a child is proficient when that child is not.”

What does This mean for Pelham?

While there has been a negative reaction from some officials about changing the scoring after a test has been given, I agree with the general direction taken by the Commissioner. His changes support the initiatives and goals we have set for our own school district in recent years. Our emphasis has been and will continue to be on developing a more rigorous curriculum, instructional program and district-level assessments in every grade to prepare all our students to reach Level 4 on the Grades 3 through 8 tests and mastery (85% or higher) on the Regents. We also want more high school students to enroll in Advanced Placement courses and be prepared for the challenges of college. That preparation must begin long before 9th grade.

I do want to be clear that the Commissioner’s changes will mean a lower percentage of our students scoring at the proficiency level. We know from the preliminary data released to us that the change in cutoff will mean more students fall into the Level 2 category in Grades 3 through 8. In the next month we will analyze the data further and report to the Board of Education and public in the fall on its implications and what it all says to us. We will examine a number of different factors that will help the community and our staff to make sense of these figures.

In my end-of-the-year report to the Board of Education, I spoke to the theme of excellence and said that Pelham is never satisfied with just meeting the standards. We are always striving for our students to be performing at the highest level. We have very specific and measurable goals in our efforts to achieve excellence. These goals will continue to guide our efforts.

I assure you that the changes instituted at the State level do not propose a new direction, but rather reaffirm our commitment to our current initiatives and our students.

This is part of the July 30, 2010 online edition of The Pelham Weekly.

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