SED changes scoring of grade 3-8 ELA and math assessments

As posted on Superintendent Dr. Teresa Thayer Snyder's Web page on August 3, 2010

As you might be aware by the recent press, the New York State Education Department has modified its scoring of the English-Language Arts and Math Assessments, grades 3-8, in an effort to raise academic standards. By raising the "cut point" scores (the raw score ranges that constitute a 4,3,2 or 1 overall score that represent student achievement on the exam), this has resulted in an overall decrease of student reported scores. In essence, the number of raw score points previously needed to achieve a "3" or "4" on the state assessments (which translates to mean students are meeting state standards, and meeting state standards with distinction, respectively) has increased. Please visit the following news links for a full explanation of the re-scaling and re-calculation of state assessment scores:

Regents Approves Scoring Changes to Grades 3-8 Math and English Tests (New York State Education Department)
http://www.oms.nysed.gov/press/Regents_Approve_Scoring_Changes.html

Tougher Tests Trip Up Students (Albany Times Union)
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Tougher-tests-trip-up-students-593964.php

The purpose of such assessments is to not only identify students that would benefit from remediation, but also serves to provide teachers and administrators with appropriate data to inform instruction. Though the scoring and scaling have drastically change, rest assured that our continued use of this data to immediately improve and differentiate our instruction for all students will certainly continue. Though on the surface our scores (as most others in New York State) will appear to decrease quite significantly, and will initially indicate a greater number of students requiring remediation, we are extremely of our instructional program, and relish the opportunity to closer analyze this data for instructional purposes. Those a score of a "2" or "1" would technically indicate that said students are partially or not meeting state standards (respectively), such a change in assessment scoring allows us to re-visit the concept of remediation, and how such services can be delivered more efficiently to a wide group of students. Those students that require a stronger level of remediation will continue to receive the attention they need, while others will have their indicated need for remediation serviced within the classroom. Your building administrator would certainly be happy to explain your child's score, and how this will affect overall instruction.

Like anything else, a massive change in assessment scoring and standards can be quite overwhelming. Rest assured that our continued focus in providing your child with an interactive, student-centered instructional program remains our priority, and such data only assists us in making this instruction more meaningful.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.