State Ed Officials Discuss Need To Change Student Assessments

With New York facing a large budget deficit in the coming year, the way school districts across the state educate youngsters could change in the coming years as the state Department of Education looks for ways to curtail the rising costs of education.

To discuss some possible changes and answers questions about topics such as the future of Regents examinations, New York State Department of Education Deputy Commissioner Dr. John P. King and Assistant Commissioner David Abrams met with 150 school administrators from across Nassau and Suffolk County at the to outline some proposals and answer questions.

One of the biggest issues discussed was the future of the long-standing Regents examinations. One of the cost-cutting measures now being considered is eliminating the Regents, which would save about $15 million annually. However, King said the DOE's top priority is to persuade the state legislature to fund the tests. Without the funding, the state could impose a fee for students wishing to take the exams.

King said eliminating the exams is not an option now because the tests are "too important an assessment to eliminate."

While he feels the Regents are a vital tool in assessing the education standing of students across New York, King did say the state needs to reform how it monitors the classroom success of youngsters.

He explained that even though many of the districts represented in this audience see a 98 percent high school graduation rate, many other school districts across the state have lower high school graduation rates. King said that education reform was needed not just for the underachieving districts, but for the state and the entire country as a whole.

Even for those districts--such as many on Long Island--that have strong high school graduation rates, King is nonetheless concerned that students may not be graduating with the skills needed for college and to compete in what he called "a highly competitive world.

"The DOE feels there are many weaknesses in our current K-12 system," King added. "Reform is needed as there is a real concern about America's long-term competetiveness."

To look at the issue of educational reform, a consortium called Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) has been formed. Its goal is to develop a new growth model for improved testing assessments to help students to be more successful in the future. The group wants to increase the number of students graduating high school and make sure those students are well prepared for college, the workplace and careers.

The four main objectives of PARCC are:

1. Adopt internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace.
2. Build instructional data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practice.
3. Recruit, develop, retain and reward effective teachers and principals.
4.  Turn around the lowest achieving schools.

Part of PARCC's effort is to focus on developing higher quality tests that include more critical thinking and complex problem solving. Tests will be longer, with more writing and be more comprehensive. Field tests will ensure these questions are fair and represent all students, thereby creating equality and equal coverage of all school districts.

The transition period that will occur as these new standards are developed and field-tested is expected to last a few years. During this time period schools will face the challenge of not having any growth model in place to measure and evaluate growth, student achievement and base teacher assessments on. They will have to evaluate such things as teacher's tenure based on their own districts contracts and local assessments, as opposed to the state assessments they've used in the past.

"We hope to have an institutional growth model in place in about a year and a half, to be tested during the 2011-2012 school year, which we will then be able to use for accountability purposes for the school year 2012-2013, but these numbers are purely speculative," King said.