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Fair Regents exam scores plummet Physics test has many boiling mad
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The passing rate at South Side High School was 94 percent on last year's physics regents and this year it is 76 percent.
This is exactly the pattern that is being revealed statewide, said Dr. William Johnson, superintendent of schools.
Although there were changes to the test as well, teachers and administrators at South Side are blaming the scoring conversion for the drop in passing. The exam score is translated from a raw score to a scaled score, and this year the translation is different. The standard was changed and no one was told about it.
Johnson likened it to having a student jump over the high bar with no bar. There's no way of knowing how high to jump.
South Side High School physics teacher Tom Hessel explained that in this year's grading scale a raw score of 58 correct out of 85 becomes a grade of 65. In reality, a raw score of 58 means that the student got 68 percent of the test correct. I've never seen a negative curve on a state test, said Hessel.
It's not based on any reasonable standards, said South Side Principal Carol Burris.
The State Education Department said it has received calls about the exam and is looking at the issue. The main complaint, according to spokesperson Tom Dunn, is with the decision to weight questions based on difficulty, so the answers to some questions are worth more points than others.
School districts across the state were asked to send the exams in to be studied. We want to make sure the exam is fair to kids, said Dunn.
Johnson and members of the school board believe that the state has made a mistake with the grading system. They are also skeptical about the state's willingness to own up to the mistake. The thought that this could stand because of some one's false pride... said School Board President Meg Koch at last Thursday's board meeting.
Johnson said the district studied it's own physics department to make sure they had not failed in preparing the students. But a look at IB and AP students' work showed the preparations were just as good as in past years, he said.
In addition to the scoring changes, the regents, designed by New York State physics teachers, has more free-thinking, analysis questions this year instead of multiple choice. It is also longer.
The Rockville Centre School District is considering a lawsuit with the support of 10 other school districts. Johnson hopes the legal action would make the state more open and honest about its grading policies and the experts it uses. He said that he and his colleagues in other school districts don't know any physics teachers who have served as experts for the State Education Department.
Hessel also criticized the state's preparations. There was only one sample test made available around November and the reference table that accompanies the test was not made available until after the school year started, he said. Plus, the physics regents, due to the high passing rates in the past, is not offered in August.
Still, before the exam, Hessel didn't anticipate a problem, saying, I felt that this year we had a little bit stronger students.
Hessel has been in contact with many other physics teachers in the state through the Long Island Physics Teachers Association and an on-line community of teachers. They all seem to have to the same opinion, the curve is ridiculous, and the same concerns.
Teachers and administrators are worried that the failures could scare kids away from physics. Johnson noted that the 173 South Side students went into the class believing that they had a very good chance of passing according to the 94 percent passing rate of their predecessors. Instead, one out of four students failed this year. The class is an elective, which is generally taken by juniors at South Side and seniors at many other schools.
Failing the regents could affect college admissions for the juniors at South Side. There are students who worked hard all year and deserve to pass and would have passed in previous years, Burris said.
In other schools around the state, there is concern about whether or not seniors can graduate. Their fate is in the hands of the state and depends on the outcome of the inquiry. Johnson expected to hear from the State Education Department on Tuesday, June 25.
If the state decides not to take action, Rockville Centre administrators would have to re-evaluate the regents use as the final exam for physics and may re-grade it according to their own scale to use as the final exam grade.
This is exactly the pattern that is being revealed statewide, said Dr. William Johnson, superintendent of schools.
Although there were changes to the test as well, teachers and administrators at South Side are blaming the scoring conversion for the drop in passing. The exam score is translated from a raw score to a scaled score, and this year the translation is different. The standard was changed and no one was told about it.
Johnson likened it to having a student jump over the high bar with no bar. There's no way of knowing how high to jump.
South Side High School physics teacher Tom Hessel explained that in this year's grading scale a raw score of 58 correct out of 85 becomes a grade of 65. In reality, a raw score of 58 means that the student got 68 percent of the test correct. I've never seen a negative curve on a state test, said Hessel.
It's not based on any reasonable standards, said South Side Principal Carol Burris.
The State Education Department said it has received calls about the exam and is looking at the issue. The main complaint, according to spokesperson Tom Dunn, is with the decision to weight questions based on difficulty, so the answers to some questions are worth more points than others.
School districts across the state were asked to send the exams in to be studied. We want to make sure the exam is fair to kids, said Dunn.
Johnson and members of the school board believe that the state has made a mistake with the grading system. They are also skeptical about the state's willingness to own up to the mistake. The thought that this could stand because of some one's false pride... said School Board President Meg Koch at last Thursday's board meeting.
Johnson said the district studied it's own physics department to make sure they had not failed in preparing the students. But a look at IB and AP students' work showed the preparations were just as good as in past years, he said.
In addition to the scoring changes, the regents, designed by New York State physics teachers, has more free-thinking, analysis questions this year instead of multiple choice. It is also longer.
The Rockville Centre School District is considering a lawsuit with the support of 10 other school districts. Johnson hopes the legal action would make the state more open and honest about its grading policies and the experts it uses. He said that he and his colleagues in other school districts don't know any physics teachers who have served as experts for the State Education Department.
Hessel also criticized the state's preparations. There was only one sample test made available around November and the reference table that accompanies the test was not made available until after the school year started, he said. Plus, the physics regents, due to the high passing rates in the past, is not offered in August.
Still, before the exam, Hessel didn't anticipate a problem, saying, I felt that this year we had a little bit stronger students.
Hessel has been in contact with many other physics teachers in the state through the Long Island Physics Teachers Association and an on-line community of teachers. They all seem to have to the same opinion, the curve is ridiculous, and the same concerns.
Teachers and administrators are worried that the failures could scare kids away from physics. Johnson noted that the 173 South Side students went into the class believing that they had a very good chance of passing according to the 94 percent passing rate of their predecessors. Instead, one out of four students failed this year. The class is an elective, which is generally taken by juniors at South Side and seniors at many other schools.
Failing the regents could affect college admissions for the juniors at South Side. There are students who worked hard all year and deserve to pass and would have passed in previous years, Burris said.
In other schools around the state, there is concern about whether or not seniors can graduate. Their fate is in the hands of the state and depends on the outcome of the inquiry. Johnson expected to hear from the State Education Department on Tuesday, June 25.
If the state decides not to take action, Rockville Centre administrators would have to re-evaluate the regents use as the final exam for physics and may re-grade it according to their own scale to use as the final exam grade.
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