Mixed results

Opting out returns scattershot state test scores

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The state released the results of the 2013-14 ELA and math exams for grades 3 through 8, and Rockville Centre’s results were scattershot, showing rises and drops in scores in equal measure.

Of the 12 tests administered over several days, the school district saw improvements in six and drops in passing rates in five. The eighth grade math exam was given to students last year but not this year. The state gave districts the option of administering the eighth grade exam or the math regents, and all the Rockville Centre students took the regents.

Most of the increase passing rates were in elementary school, while most of the drops were in the middle school. The fluctuating scores were accompanied by a marked decrease in the number of students taking the exams. Last year, 1,298 students took the ELA exams. This year, only 889 took it — a 32 percent drop.

Chris Pellettieri, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said that the main cause for the drops in passing rates in the middle school was the huge decrease in the number of students taking the exams.

“With the Grade 8 ELA, only a third of the kids were tested,” he said. “As a result, you can have huge variations from year to the next.”

The district has said multiple times that the state exams are not the main measure that it uses to judge student progress and learning. The district uses the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) to follow student progress and see which students need help.

Even with the decreased number of students taking the exam, Pellettieri pointed out that the district’s passing rate on many exams were still higher than other districts.

“And we’re teaching,” he said. “We’re not doing test prep at the extent we used to. The middle school was all over the place because of the fact that you were down to a third of the kids taking the test.”

Pellettieri said the district is expecting to receive some type of notice from the state or federal government because of the district’s low participation rate two years running (Rockville Centre had some of the highest number of parents opt their students out of the test in the state), though he said there should be no economic impact on the schools.

“There has been no threat of withholding money,” said Pellettieri. “People often say that, but we haven’t been told that’s going to happen.”