Test scores drop, Lawrence diploma rate rises

More rigorous academic standards have resulted in a drop in test scores on the Common Core geometry Regents, but local educators say they are addressing the issue by tweaking the existing curriculum and analyzing trends in the questions.
At Hewlett High School the percent of students meeting state standards on the geometry exam dropped from 84.5 percent in 2014 to 72.7 percent this year. To help boost scores, geometry teachers revised the curriculum this summer, said Mark Secaur. The Hewlett-Woodmere School District’s assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction.
“The Board of Education also supported a programmatic initiative for this year that allowed for an increase in math lab opportunities for our struggling students, Secaur said. “These labs have incorporated blended learning opportunities where lab-based students, through the use of web-based tutorials, can have tightly focused instruction, based upon their conceptual gaps.” Blended learning combines traditional classroom learning with online instruction.
The percent drop was even more pronounced in Lawrence, where geometry test scores fell from 56.4 percent in 2014 to 37.1 percent this year. Deputy Superintendent Dr. Ann Pedersen, who is in charge of the district’s curriculum and instruction, said that the test scores are being reviewed.
“We are using [several] resources to do task analysis of trends in the questions, which questions did the students get wrong and what standard does it address,” Pedersen said. “In that way we can be sure students enter courses with better background knowledge. We look at the vocabulary demands of the questions and see if that was an interfering factor, in other words, did the student have the content and was mislead by the phrasing.” To help students, computer-based practice and extra time was added to the after-school learning academy.