New York to Lower the Bar for High School Graduation (Dumbing 'em down!)

NYTimes.com ^ | October 9, 2003

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

New York State's education commissioner, Richard P. Mills, said Wednesday that the state would loosen the demanding testing requirements it has imposed for high school graduation in recent years, including the standards used to judge math proficiency.

Mr. Mills's announcement followed the release earlier in the day of a report on the debacle of the Math A Regents exam in June. The report, by a panel appointed by the Regents and Mr. Mills, said the state's effort to establish rigorous math standards was deeply flawed and needed to be overhauled.

The panel found that the state had given math teachers only vague outlines about what to teach and had produced exams that were poorly field-tested and focused too much on some areas to the exclusion of others.

In June, in the face of growing criticism of his department, Mr. Mills set aside the results of the Regents Math A exam for 11th- and 12th-grade students. The test is required for graduation, and only about 37 percent of those who took it passed, according to an early survey. The year before, 61 percent passed.

Revisions in the math standards and testing were part of a package of changes Mr. Mills proposed on Wednesday. He said that he was not abandoning his goal of rigorous testing, but that it would take longer to achieve than he had anticipated. "Even a moonshot is not done without adjustments along the way," he said. "This is what we are doing."

Mr. Mills said he would narrow the range of math concepts students would have to learn to get high school diplomas.

He also said he would reduce the failure rate on the physics exam, which also caused an uproar this year as many teachers denounced it as too tough. Several suburban districts in Westchester and on Long Island had announced that they would no longer give the physics exam.

In addition, Mr. Mills said he wanted broader adjustments in the Regents testing program. One is to offer school districts two more years of using 55 as the passing grade for all the Regents exams. The passing grade was supposed to rise to 65 on some exams in the current school year.

Mr. Mills said he would give special education students two more years before they had to pass Regents exams to get their diplomas. Until now, they have been allowed to graduate by passing less rigorous tests known as the Regents competency tests. That test had been scheduled to end in 2005.

The Board of Regents approved all of Mr. Mills's recommendations, except for special education measures, which they are expected to approve on Thursday morning.

While many of the Regents said they continued to believe rigorous standards were needed to drive higher student achievement, some expressed pleasure that the board and the commissioner seemed to be easing standards.

"The Math A problems have opened up the whole issue of how standards are set," said Saul Cohen, a Regent from Westchester. "I finally see movement to be more flexible. Before, everything was very rigid."

Some critics said the changes did not go far enough, either because they think the state should scrap the requirement that students pass five Regents exams before getting a diploma, or because they believe that the state has proved itself incapable of producing good tests.

"This adds up to a complete fiasco," said Ann Cook, co-chairwoman of Time Out From Testing, a coalition of groups critical of the Regents testing program. "What's happening here is that the commissioner is attempting to camouflage the real problem, which is a failed system of assessing students."

The Regents exams are a primary part of an eight-year state effort to strengthen education standards. Although the exams have existed for decades, they were not required for graduation, and usually it was the better students who took them. Now, however, to get their diplomas, all high school students must pass five exams: English, math, a science, American history and government, and world history and geography.

[Conspiracy Guy]

This is great. Now more Hillary voters will have a high school diploma.

[Support Free Republic]

Got a minute?

I'd really like you to rub my ears,
or help out FR.

[razorback-bert]

What is a Math A Regents exam?

I took all the math Regents exams, but never a Math A.

[rudypoot]

Public education is getting better. Just look a the increasing graduation rate. /bang head on desk

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP - EDUCATION

[lainie]

CA did this same thing last year.

[kitkat]

New York State, with all the money it spends on education, ranks only 14th of all the states in scholastic achievement.

[Just mythoughts]

Note speaking to those graduating. What is being admitted here is that they don't have enough time to teach these kids what they should have been taught for past 12 years.

Somehow somebody got the idea that things would be ok if we just test. Now come on if from kindercare on these kids have only been taught "FEELINGS" how can they now at graduation be expected to know what they have not been taught.

Test show educators are failures!

[<1/1,000,000th%]

The test is required for graduation, and only about 37 percent of those who took it passed, according to an early survey. The year before, 61 percent passed.

You'd think this would be the story.

[Conspiracy Guy]

It takes more than money.

[talleyman]

Mr. Mills said he would narrow the range of math concepts students would have to learn to get high school diplomas.

"You want fries with that?"

[jocon307]

"Although the exams have existed for decades, they were not required for graduation, and usually it was the better students who took them."

I don't know what a Math A test is either, sounds like a general sort of test for those who did not take any advanced Math courses.

I think it is silly to make every student take the Regents exams, in the past it was always used to show high achievment, and one got a better state diploma as a result. The tests were very difficult and not intended to show that the average student was qualified for graduation. If they want a test that shows that, they should make one up. The alternative is, of course, only to dumb down the Regents and render them useless for their original, intended purpose.

BTW, I was in High School the year the Yeshiva students stole some Regents exams, rendering them useless, many were cancelled. My physics teacher was nice enough to pass me anyway. AH, the 70's, what a waste of a decade.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Pssst...


Ping!

[pabianice]

Test Question:

"If 213,668 incompetent, lunatic-leftist teachers fail to teach sixth-grade math to 2,330,000 New York public high school students, what is the cost (in trillions of dollars) to the US economy?"

[razorback-bert]

I think (memory fuzzy, since it didn't apply to me) a Regents diploma was required to enter a state university in my day. In my school SHS, they were 25% of our final grade and 65 was passing with a D-. 2 semester grades, mid term and the Regents combined to make our final grade.

Oh yea, I walked barefoot though the snow, up hill all the 20 miles to school.

[Fair Paul]

There are two Math Regents exams, Math A which is mainly Algebra and Geometry, taken in the middle of sophomore year, and Math B which is Trig. and Advanced Algebra, taken either as a junior or senior.

[Steely Glint]

Great, a new way to make even more ignorant, semi-literate, history-impaired Democrats.

[razorback-bert]

For me it was Algebra at end of my freshman year, then up the math food chain each year. I four years of English I II III IV, chemistry, biology, physics, four years of foreign language, four years of history. I had to have passed 16 exams in order to receive a Regents diploma.


Did I mention that it was 30 uphill miles home through heat like Death Valley from school?

[kitkat]

***It takes more than money.***

That's my point.