Test schedule causes conflict in districts

Changes in the testing schedule for the New York State Assessments, which was released later than in previous years, has made life more difficult for the Oceanside school district superintendant, as well as the principals and teachers.

The date changes have forced schedule changes for the district, while a reduction in testing days has called into question the availability of test proctors.

According to Oceanside Superintendent Herbert Brown, in a typical year, schools would receive the assessment dates in April, because the districts need them to set their calendars for the upcoming year. This year, the dates were sent out in the middle of August.

Having the assessment dates early on is necessary, Brown said, because “you don’t want kids preparing for concerts and taking assessments on the same date.”

In addition to receiving the dates later than normal, the assessments were also given two important scheduling changes. Rather than having students take the assessments in early May, as they have in the past, they will now take the tests early in April.

Previously, school districts were given a period of three days in which they could administer the two day test. This option allowed principals to administer tests to some grades on a Monday and Tuesday, while allowing other grades to take the test on that Tuesday and Wednesday. This freedom of three days increased the availability of proctors to administer tests. This year, the state removed the option of taking the test between three days, restricting it to only two.

“If you’re giving the tests all on the same two days, you have to worry about having enough proctors for the kids,” Brown said. “When you had three days, you could choose which grades took it on which day.”

Moving the testing dates to early April have forced many upstate schools to reschedule their spring vacations, but for the Oceanside School District, the change was less severe.

School 8 had originally scheduled its sixth grade trip to Frost Valley for the same days, but has since rescheduled the trip for May 2 through 4. “School 8 has been going to Frost Valley for a long time and they were very accommodating,” said Principal Laurie Storch. “May will be a very nice time to go, so I think it’s going to work out even better.”

Brown said that the reason for the earlier test dates is to get the results back to the school districts by June 15, to help them evaluate teachers in the same year. The reason for reducing the test days from three to two, Brown said, is probably to reduce the chance of cheating in between the three-day testing window. While Brown said he did not believe any cheating went on in Oceanside, he admitted that the three-day window could allow students from one district to pass along test information to students in another district before they take the assessments.

According to Brown, the district is still discussing ways to make the new schedule work. “I understand the concept, but it’s very difficult to agree with something that will be very hard to do,” he said. “So for us, it’s an issue of how we do it, and I’m not sure [the state] understands how difficult it is going to be for districts, operationally.”