Oceanside and Island Park state test scores drop with new standards

Test scores fell across Long Island and throughout New York after the State Education Department raised the bar at all grade levels in an effort to better prepare students for higher education.

In recent years, school districts across the state had enjoyed continually increasing passing rates in English Language Arts and math. Students are tested every year in grades 3-8. This year, the tests were also moved back, from January for the ELA and from March for math, to May for both.

State Education Commissioner David Steiner had recommended increasing the "cut scores," which determine a student's proficiency level. Students scoring in Levels 1 and 2 are considered to be in need of academic intervention, while those placing in Levels 3 and 4 are considered to have passed.

The higher cut scores mean many students who were scoring in Level 3 are now at Level 2. This year, across New York state, 53 percent of all students tested passed the ELA exam compared to 77 percent last year. Math proficiency went down from 86 percent to 61 percent.

The state says that students in Level 2, under the new scoring guidelines, only have a 75 percent chance of achieving a passing grade of 65 on the English or algebra Regents exams.

More than half of all the students who took the tests in Oceanside and Island Park passed. However, the number of students that passed are significantly lower than last year’s tests.

In 2009, 86.4 percent of the students who took the Grade 3 ELA test in Oceanside passed, compared to only 68.1 percent this year. Likewise, in Island Park, 90.7 percent of students passed the same test, while only 68.5 percent passed it this year.

The highest percentage of passing scores for Oceanside was the Grade 6 Math test, which 82.7 students passed. And in Island Park, it was the Grade 4 ELA test, which 84.1 students passed.

Even in the face of such drastic score changes, the state defended its decision to change the cut scores.

"It’s clear from our review that some students who scored proficient on state exams found themselves unprepared, without remediation, to do the work required of them when they reached college," Steiner said.

State Regents Chancellor Meryl Tisch said, "We are doing a great disservice when we say that a child is proficient when that child is not. Nowhere is this more true than among our students who are most in need."

Steiner acknowledged that the higher "cut scores" did lead to lower passing rates around the state. "While that is sobering news," he said, "it should cause all of us to work ever more effectively together to ensure that all children in New York state get the knowledge and skills they need."

Educators had mixed reactions. While applauding increased academic rigor, many disapproved of how state education officials made the changes. "To put it simply, they moved the goal posts after the ball was kicked," said Liz Dion, president of the Rockville Centre Board of Education. "A more rigorous exam could have been created... but instead the education department chose to change the passing grade of exams that had already been administered."

The midsummer adjustment, coming more than two months after school districts adopted their budgets, could leave many scrambling for funds to provide extra remedial instruction for students who scored poorly. However, the state has said that school districts should use the previous year's scoring methods in deciding which students should receive additional help during the 2010-11 school year.

Dr. William Johnson, Rockville Centre's school superintendent, said he agrees with the reasoning behind the change. "I'm really thrilled to see that the state has come out and said college readiness is their mission," he said. "That's extraordinary, that's wonderful. But we have disagreements on their methodology — we always have."

Johnson said that local educators agree that exposure to higher level courses, such as Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes, is important to ready students for college. But, he said, individual districts often have to determine, without much guidance from the state, how to prepare students for college.

Alex Costello contributed reporting to this article. Comments about this story? Oceaneditor@liherald.com or (516)569-4000 ext. 269.