By Liz McBreen
The numbers are based on a "cohort group," which are the students who began ninth grade in 1997 and graduated in 2001. Because of the results of last year' s exams, school officials are confident about their decision to try to raise the passing grade required for graduation from 55 to 65 beginning next year.
Of the WH students who graduated in June, 99 percent of them scored 55 or higher on the English exam and 98 percent did so on the math test. If the acedemic requirements are raised next year as expected by the New York State Board of Regents, the English scores should remain strong: 95 percent of students scored 65 or higher last year. However, the math scores were lower, with only 87 percent of students scoring higher than 65.
West Hempstead Superintendent Carol Eisenberg is especially pleased with the results of the English exams, "We've made tremendous strides and improvements, but of course we want to improve even more." Eisenberg went on to explain that the percentage of West Hempstead students passing the Regents exams has gone up 15 percent in the last six years. For this, she credits the cirriculum and staff in her schools.
The Sewanhaka District also scored well, 99 percent and 98 percent of students passing the English and math Regents respectively at the 55 passing mark, and at the 65 percent mark, the percentages were only slightly lower, 96 percent passing English and 95 percent passing the math exam. However, Sewanhaka Assistant Superintendent for Cirriculum and Instruction, Edward Trono-lone, is determined to improve these scores even more, saying, "Until they are all 100 percent, we won't be happy."
When asked how they feel about the passing mark for Regents exams being raised to 65, both Eisenberg and Tronolone agreed that although this is reasonable for most students, there has to be a safety net for some. Tronolone feels that the decision to raise the passing mark is being made too quickly. He explained that this year's juniors took a class assessment that last year's seniors had not. He said that in order to fairly gauge the score results, officials should wait until this year's junior class has graduated, so that they can make a more informed decision about the passing mark.
