State scoring changes lower Rockville Centre test results

English Language Arts and math proficiency ratings fell throughout New York and across Long Island after the State Education Department effectively raised the bar in an effort to better prepare students for higher education.

In recent years, school districts throughout the state— including Rockville Centre — had enjoyed continually higher passing rates in the yearly assessments, taken by students in grades 3 through 8. In addition to the scoring changes this year, the tests were also moved to May —from January for the ELA and from March for math.

State Education Commissioner David Steiner had recommended increasing the "cut scores," which determine a student's proficiency level. Students scoring at levels 1 and 2 are considered to be in need of academic intervention, while those at levels 3 and 4 are considered to have passed.

The higher cut scores mean that many students who had previously scored at Level 3 are now at Level 2. Across the state this year, 53 percent of all students passed the ELA exam, compared with 77 percent last year. The percentage of students showing proficiency in math dropped dramatically as well, from 86 percent to 61 percent statewide.

According to the Education Department, under the new scoring guidelines, students at Level 2 have only a 75 percent chance of getting a passing grade of 65 on the English or algebra Regents exam.

Rockville Centre holds its own

Rockville Centre students, who had high levels of proficiency in 2009, will see drops in both ELA and math scores in all grades when the district mails their results home later this month. But according to Christopher Pellettieri, the district's assistant superintendent for curriculum, students still fared better than their counterparts in other Nassau County districts and statewide.

Pellettieri said that the average drop in ELA scores in grades 3 through 5 in Rockville Centre was 11.9 percent, and in math, 9.1 percent. Seventh-graders had the lowest level of proficiency on the ELA, 75.1 percent. But despite the lower numbers, Pellettieri said, the district "held its own" in terms of where it has traditionally been ranked in the county and state.

Why the state changed the scoring

"It's clear from our review that some students who scored proficient on state exams found themselves unprepared, without remediation, to do the work required of them when they reached college," Steiner said.

"We are doing a great disservice when we say that a child is proficient when that child is not," said state Regents Chancellor Meryl Tisch. "Nowhere is this more true than among our students who are most in need."

Steiner acknowledged that the higher cut scores led to lower passing rates around the state. "While that is sobering news," he said, "it should cause all of us to work ever more effectively together to ensure that all children in New York state get the knowledge and skills they need."

The response

Educators had mixed reactions. While applauding increased academic rigor, many disapproved of how state education officials made the changes. "To put it simply, they moved the goal posts after the ball was kicked," said Liz Dion, president of the Rockville Centre Board of Education. "A more rigorous exam could have been created ... but instead the Education Department chose to change the passing grade of exams that had already been administered."

The midsummer adjustment, coming more than two months after school districts adopted their budgets, could leave many scrambling for funds to provide extra remedial instruction for students who scored poorly. However, in a move that might undercut the effectiveness of the scoring changes, the state has said that school districts should use the previous year's scoring to decide which students should receive additional help in the 2010-11 school year.

Rockville Centre Superintendent Dr. William Johnson said he agrees with the reasoning behind the changes. "I'm really thrilled to see that the state has come out and said college readiness is their mission," he said. "That's extraordinary, that's wonderful. But we have disagreements on their methodology — we always have."

He cautioned that the data the state is using suggest that students scoring a low Level 3 will not graduate with the skills necessary to succeed in college. "That's not true," Johnson said. "The generalization that the commissioner is making across all school districts throughout New York state may be where there is not a strong effort in the school district to prepare kids for college. We're one of many school districts that have considered it our mission to prepare kids for college-level work, so the predictive value of those numbers doesn't hold for Rockville Centre."

Johnson added that local educators agree that exposure to higher-level courses, such as Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate, is important to prepare students for college.

The Rockville Centre district has always acted independently of the state, focusing additional attention on students with scores in the low 3s in addition to those with 2s and 1s, Johnson explained. Because of that, he said, he is not sure that the population of students who need academic intervention will change dramatically this year.

One local parent is taking a wait-and-see approach. "I don't think that this was a surprise because we had been told last year, and my understanding is, that they changed the way they were going to calibrate the tests," said Lisa Boranian, co-president of the RVC Council of PTAs, who has two children in South Side Middle School and two at South Side High School.

Boranian added that she is not yet aware of the district's and individual schools' results.

"We've always focused on the end game, which is 12th grade, and we've built our system backwards," Johnson said. "Our mission is not to get a kid into college, it's to prepare them to finish college ... the real thrust is to prepare students to continue their studies."

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