EdVANTAGE Blog

Yesterday, the U.S. Education Department released results for the 2009 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) 4th and 8th grade tests in mathematics.

The results brought renewed questioning of the soundness of the state’s grades 3 through testing program.

The New York Times reports, “New York State’s fourth and eighth graders made no notable progress on federal math exams this year, according to test scores released on Wednesday, sharply contradicting the results of state-administered tests that showed record gains.” Read the rest of this entry »

The State Board of regents meets in Albany next week and will continue discussions of issues concerning graduation rates.

Several of the issues the Regents will consider only indirectly affect students.  For example, for purposes of federal school accountability system requirements, the Regents will consider whether to give districts some credit for students who take more than four years to earn a high school diploma and how demanding do the the regents want to make graduation rate goals?

There is one issue to be discussed which does directly affect students.  A background paper prepared for the discussion asks, “Do the Regents wish to continue to implement the phase-out of the local diploma option for general education students?”

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Today’s New York Daily News continues its criticisms of state assessments, reporting that recent high school graduates complain that focusing on passing Regents exams left them unprepared for college.

The article also quotes Regent Saul Cohen, who chairs the Regents task force overseeing efforts to update state learning standards, a project the Council called for in its 2007, “Education is Civil Right” agenda.

Regent Cohen said, “We could be doing a lot better” and added,”The complaints we get from higher ed people over and over [are that] most youngsters are not well-prepared for college – unless, of course, they’ve taken APs or international baccalaureates.”

State Education Department spokesman Tom Dunn said, “The Regents have committed to doing whatever it takes to meet the President’s standard for college readiness.  This will include a thorough review of the learning standards, the core curricula and the state assessments.”

On Monday, incoming State Education Commissioner David Steiner had a column in the New York Post outlining his views of commitments that schools and policymakers need to make to schoolchildren.

On the same day we sent Dr. Steiner a letter outlining hopes that superintendents hold for his leadership of education in New York State, as well as observations on challenges he will face.

You can read it here.

The letter was developed with ample suggestions from the Council’s House of Delegates.

It includes thoughts on new standards, better assessments, closing achievement gaps, “re-imagining” how education is structured and delivered, charter schools and the State Education Department of the future.

It also cautions against “one size fits all policies,” discusses the financial pressures school leaders feel, and explains the practical perspective superintendents bring to policy-making discussions — they are the leaders who are held accountable for making state policies work at the local level.

The advent of new leadership in high state offices is an apt time for the Council and other organizations to reconsider and restate positions on core policy issues.

On Wednesday, the New York Daily News reported that “City students are passing state tests by guessing. Thursday, the New York Post had a column by education scholar Diane Ravitch urging that incoming State Education Commissioner Commissioner David Steiner to make toughening state tests an early priority.  Dr. Ravitch expresses optimism that he will:  “Brilliant and well-educated, he’s unlikely to tolerate the way New York’s standards have declined in response to federal pressure.”

Dr. Ravitch contends that state tests — in New York and elsewhere — have gotten easier, as states have sought to have more students deemed proficient in their quest to satisfy the No Child Left Behind Act’s requirement that all students be proficient by 2014.  She derides this worthy but lofty objective as “a utopian goal that no state or nation has ever accomplished.”

I don’t have the expertise to judge whether or not our state tests have gotten easier, and I’ve heard differing perspectives from superintendents.  But, as explained below, both critiques over-simplify how state tests are scored.

What do readers think — have Regents Exams, or the grades 3 through 8 state assessments gotten easier over time?

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The State Education Department recently released its revised examination administration schedule for the 2009-10 school year. This schedule implements the move of the 3-8 tests for English Language Arts and Math to the May timeframe.

The SED invites questions on the implementation for inclusion in a “Q&A” document to be released shortly. Questions may be forwarded through the Office of State Assessment, or The Council.

In advance of that document, we believe one clarification may be useful – the column titled “Administration Dates” indicates the range of dates on which the first day of testing must occur. For multi-day exams, the administration may continue beyond the date range specified (for example, to accommodate students with disabilities or to conduct make-ups). Obviously all other rules for administration of these exams remain unchanged (all students in a single district must start the same test on the same day, etc.). We believe this clarification will be spelled out in more detail in the SED Q&A document, once released.

At its June meeting three weeks ago, the State Board of Regents endorsed moving the grades 3 through 8 state assessments in English language arts and math from January and March, respectively, into May.

The State Education Department is now attempting to settle the details for a revised testing calendar.

An article in yesterday’s Elmira Star-Gazette reveals more of the Regents’ thinking in endorsing the change.

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The State of New Jersey has made a half-year class in economics and personal finance a requirement for high school graduation.

The state joins Utah, Missouri, and Pennsylvania in requiring a semester-long course.  Eighteen other states require personal finance be incorporated into other subjects.

As a public school parent, I can certainly identify required instructional topics I’d drop in favor of expanded and more purposeful instruction in personal finance.

The State Board of Regents meetings this week centered on issues related to high school graduation. One issue they will have to resolve in the months ahead is whether to revive the “local diploma” option, which ended for students who entered 9th grade after 2007-08.

The State Education Department released high school completion data for all schools and districts for the three most recent 9th grade cohorts.  Statewide, the four-year high school graduation rate has risen from from 65.8 for the cohort that entered 9th grade in 2001, to 70.9 percent for the cohort that entered 9th grade in 2004.

For the latest cohort, the graduation rate rises to 75.6 percent when students are tracked over five years.

The data sparked mostly positive headlines around the state.  Examples here, here, and here.

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The State Board of Regents today agreed to move the administration of the grades 3 state assessments in Mathematics and English Language Arts to May, with a two week separation between the tests.  The change is to go into effect next year.

Currently, the ELA tests are given in January, and Math assessments are given in March.

The Regents originally began discussing moving the assessments later in the school year “to permit more time to teach the new year’s curriculum prior to the administration of the test.” Read the rest of this entry »