The+Pros+and+Cons+of+the+Regents+Exams

NT Project #2

Standardized Testing In New York State: The Pros and Cons of the Regents Exams

One of the most important issues affecting educators in the US today is the ubiquity of standardized testing. In New York State schools, the most important set of standardized tests are the Regents Exams. Many educators are reflexively against these kinds of tests, claiming that no one knows how well a student is doing better than their teacher. Other educators respond that our students must be guaranteed an appropriate and free education and that these tests are an empirical measure of student progress. Schools across New York must come up with strategies which help students pass their Regents exams without become test-prep factories that lack creativity and a local identity.

One positive aspect of standardized testing is that it gives a measure, however imperfect, for comparing the education that students receive at various schools. A school with substantially higher Regents scores than another school with a similar population, many would argue, provides a higher standard of education. Test score comparisons can also be used to assess the effectiveness of individual instructors in the same subject area within the same school. In a city with many hundreds of High Schools, the Regents exams provide a common knowledge base and curricular cohesiveness for an enormous system.

For example, Tom Brady kissed his son on National Television. A student transferring from one NYC school to another after their freshman year, for example, will generally be able to continue their Global History education in the sophomore year at. This interchangeability allows us to provide general metrics for the health of the overall school system.

Starting with students who began their freshman year in 2005, the standards for passing the Regents Exams have started to be raised. Instead of 55 being the passing score for all exams, students must get at least a 65 on at least two exams, with the rest being 55 or above. These standards will rise until 65 is the passing rate for all exams. The intended message is clear: student achievement must rise. But many teachers whose students must pass these exams feel that raising standards without an equal raise in services (seat time, smaller classes, support services, school days, texts) only punishes our most vulnerable students in the end.

Student performance on Regents exams have consequences for all stakeholders. The schools themselves can be placed on SURR lists for not improving Regents scores in the key 4th and 8th grades and eventually closed. Teachers can get poor ratings or lose promotions for having consistently low scores and, most importantly, students can be denied promotion, or in high school, a diploma for the failure to pass one of the required Regents exams. These standardized tests affect all members of the school community, directly or indirectly. Even for teachers of non-Regents subjects or grades, student anxiety over testing can spill over to subjects that are not tested.

Effectiveness in preparing students for Regents exams are one important way for parents to judge the education that their children are receiving. Consistently delivering high rates of passing on these exams create a culture of excellent and a reputation for schools. Homes in a certain coveted school’s zone are often worth more than other comparable homes in a lesser-respected school's zone. In turn, some areas and neighborhood schools will see a benefit from Regents evaluations, while others will be labeled undesirable.

The measuring of school success by test scores has accompanied the general trend of new schools being created as small, themed institutions. In a press release from January 4th, 2005, Mayor Bloomberg’s office claimed that the "Number of Schools Under Registration Review Schools Hits an All-Time Low of 35; 55% Reduction from 3 Years Ago" What is not mentioned is that many of the schools on the SURR schools were large schools that were closed and replaced with several small academy style schools. For this reason, another consequence of the emphasis on Regents scores is that the larger schools are become a relic of the past, unless they can meet extremely high standards.

Mayor Bloomberg ran his re-election campaign largely on his education record, which saw test scores gently rise over his years in office. The mayor took credit for the overhaul of the NYC public school system through the ending of the Board of Education and the creation of the new DOE. His campaign strategy was successful and he has the votes to prove it. Someone not acquainted with the details of standardized tests might believe that a Citywide rise in test scores is a straightforward, mathematical means for measuring the soundness of the Mayor’s policies. Principals and classroom teachers know that a rise in test scores is a much more complex phenomenon involving the quality of the students' educational background, faculty, the types of assessments used and how they are scored.

My interest in this topic stems from my experiences as a novice teacher. I taught over 10 separate "ELA Prep" classes of students in my first two years of teaching. The test prep model is one solution to the issue of the increased importance of the Regents exams in New York State. In addition to regular classes in a subject, students are getting supplemental classes that teach to the test, focusing narrowly on content or skills found on the tests. Although I eventually helped my students master the skills needed to pass these exams, I feel the test-prep model is problematic and more holistic solutions must be found which address the overall educational needs of students while helping them pass these vital exams.

The obvious downsides of this way of addressing standardized testing pressures is that the content taught for testing may not align well, or at all, to overall educational needs of the children, or the school's curriculum. Resentment and apathy towards school, especially in younger children, has not be sufficiently studied in an environment where nine year olds are expected to pass high stakes tests or be held back.

Some solutions that I have found through personal experience in helping students with the Regents exam include demystifying the process. All high school Regents exams going back to June 1998 are available online on the [|NYSED Regents website]. By having access to dozens of previous exams and reviewing them, a student can familiarize themselves with each and every exam with the assistance of their teachers. The exams become less scary and more comprehensible when the patterns emerge and certain themes in the types of questions appear over the years. When students feel empowered to treat the Regents exams as a collorary of their every day learning process, the exams will lose their mystique.

Finally, Regents exams are now a fundamental part of the education landscape on New York State. Whether we feel they are an effective measure of student progress or not, we must find ways to prepare our students for these exams. The complexity of creating and implementing curriculum that prepares students for standardized testing and meets the local vision of the school is an issue that must be addressed as a whole school. It is not the students’ sole responsibility or their teachers’. This issue must be owned by everyone involved in the lives of children and we must continue to find avenues of buy-in for all stakeholders in the school community.

Bibliography and Research Sources:

"English Language Arts Core Curriculum (Prekindergarten–Grade 12) May 2005" http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/ela/elacore.htm

"NYS Mathematics Core Curriculum (Revised March 2005)" http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/mst/mathstandards/revised3.htm

"Number of Schools Under Registration Review Schools Hits an All-Time Low of 35; 55% Reduction from 3 Years Ago"