A record-breaking year for South Side High School

District officials review 2017-18 graduation, test data

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Ninety-two percent of South Side High School seniors graduated in June with a Regents diploma with Advanced Designation — an all-time high, according to Principal John Murphy. Meanwhile, 41 percent of the graduating class earned an International Baccalaureate diploma — another record.

To earn advanced Regents diplomas, students must pass a total of nine Regents exams. The Regents diploma requires five tests.

“Ninety-two percent is the high- water mark for the building,” Murphy said, noting that those results contributed to South Side being named a National Blue Ribbon School in September by the U.S. Education Department.

The principal was speaking at a Nov. 1 Board of Education meeting, at which school officials reviewed test results at the high school, middle school and elementary school levels.

The physics Regents results “were a source of pride,” Murphy added, as 87 percent passed the exam, up from 75 percent in 2016-17. “We don’t see that kind of drastic anomalous rise and fall,” he said.

Seventy-two percent of South Side seniors took the physics Regents in June — more than double the county average. Still, Rockville Centre students exceeded the county’s passing rate on the test, considered among the most difficult in high school.

The passing rate for the geometry Regents fell from 82 percent in 2016-17 to 78 percent, which is similar to state trends, Schools Superintendent Dr. William Johnson noted. “It’s the one outlier in the math sequence in these Common Core assessments that seems to be a continuing cause of concern,” Murphy said.

Results on the Advanced Placement exams for two calculus courses and a statistics course are also “moderate to worrisome,” he said, but are beneficial for college preparation. School officials said the district is looking to incorporate more calculus in 10th and 11th grades.

South Side Assistant Principal Elizabeth Nisler-Cross told the Board of Education that an all-time high of 462 juniors and seniors took on the rigorous International Baccalaureate program last year, and 41 percent of the graduating class earned an I.B. diploma, which requires students to satisfactorily complete six or more I.B. courses.

Among higher-level I.B. courses, South Side student scores in chemistry exceeded the global average, and at the standard level, students eclipsed the mean in physics, math/methods and math studies.

“At South Side, we don’t gate, or restrict, students from taking I.B. courses, as many schools do,” Nisler-Cross said. “Any time our average comes near or exceeds the global average, it’s really a cause for celebration.”