By:Karenlyn Barone
East Rockaway School District No. 19
In East Rockaway, 71.6 percent of fourth-graders passed the ELA exam, down from 77.2 percent last year. In eighth grade, 50.5 percent of students passed, down significantly from last year's 57.9 percent.
Any time scores go down, I think it-s cause for us to take a closer look, said Dr. Arnold Dodge, superintendent of schools for the East Rockaway district. We are meeting with elementary and middle school personnel and are taking the test apart -- item by item -- to see where the holes are."
The ELA grading system is broken down into four levels, with Level 4 students showing superior performance, knowledge and skill. Level 1 reflects minimal achievement, and no evidence of knowledge or skill in one or more of the state standards. Students assessed at Level 2 demonstrate partial achievement and some knowledge and skill, and Level 3 students meet all state standards. Students who score at levels 3 or 4 are considered to have met the state standards, and are in line to pass the Regents exams and well on their way to earning mandatory Regents diplomas.
Lynbrook School District No. 20
Lynbrook School District students fared well on the exam, with 88.1 percent of fourth-graders passing, up 3.8 percent from last year, and 75.3 percent of eighth-graders meeting the standards, up a significant 11.3 percent.
"I am very proud of our scores, and I give credit to the staff, our curriculum coordinators and outside coordinators," said William Melkiff, Lynbrook superintendent of schools. "We have been putting a tremendous amount of time and effort into our middle schools."
More than 62 percent of all New York state fourth-graders met all the standards by scoring at levels 3 or 4. That is down from 64 percent in 2003 and up from 48 percent in 1999.
"Even schools who fare traditionally in a strong manner had some challenges with the test this year," said Dodge. I believe the fourth-grade test, in particular, was a poorly constructed test.
Jonathan Burman, a spokesman for the New York State Department of Education, disagreed. "At the press conference that was held [on June 3] where [Commissioner Richard Mills] released these scores," Burman told the Herald when asked if the test was more difficult, "a reporter asked a similar question, and the commissioner said that the test was set at the same level of difficulty as other exams. There were no flaws with this exam."
Dodge readily admits he is not a fan of one-shot testing. The fortunes of a school district should not rise or fall on the results of a one-day test," he said. "There are 180 days in the school year ... and there is more to a school district than testing."
Backing up Dodge's contention is the fact that East Rockaway was recently named one of New York State's most improved schools.
Metkiff agrees that testing is only a small measure of a school's progress, and is cautious about attaching too much significance to the test results. "I caution everyone that this is one test -- one time," he said. "Let's not give these tests too much credit."
Reflecting on this year's ELA results, Dodge said that there are many factors that affect how well a student does on the test. Some students may not be good test-takers, for example. The big mystery may not be the children as much as it is the instrument, Dodge said. I am not against assessments, but they should be done within the district, not by remote from someone who is 250 miles away and telling us how to run our district.
Dodge contends that the teachers know their students and the curriculum best. You can-t get further away from that when you have decisions coming from Albany and Washington, D.C., he said.
