The New Math: Clarkstown Reviews Programs in Wake of Changes to State Test Scoring

Latest results from annual state-mandated proficiency tests in English and math show Clarkstown students are doing about as well as they did the previous year, but local school officials are taking a new look at the way students are prepared for the tests because New York has raised the bar on passing grades.

In addition to setting higher standards, the state Education Department has created new categories to gauge student progress, changing the way testing results are broken down for students in grades three to eight. This is the first major change in the way student proficiency tests are judged since they were launched, according to school officials.

"We took a look at the new numbers and they show our students are doing about the same as last year, or even better in some cases," said Deborah Leh, assistant superintendent for student learning at the Clarkstown Central School District headquarters in New City.

Statewide, because of the new system of analyzing the test scores, the newest statistics make it seem students throughout New York have regressed. In 2009, results showed 77 percent of students met or exceeded standards in English and 86 percent of students did so in math. But when the new, higher standards were applied to the results for 2010, those numbers drop statewide to 53 percent in English and 61 percent in math.

"These newly defined 'cut' scores do not mean that students who were previously scoring at the 'proficient' standard and are now labeled 'basic' have learned less," said John King, the state's senior deputy commissioner of education. "Rather, the lower numbers of students meeting the proficient standard reflects that we are setting the bar higher and we expect students, teachers, and parents to reach even higher to achieve these new targets."

Just as in Clarkstown, state education officials said statewide results for the latest English and math tests are about the same as they were last year.

State Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch and Education Commissioner David Steiner said the new proficiency standards were set based on skills students will eventually need to be ready for college. The new standards are based on a review of research that analyzed how the grade 3-8 state tests relate to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam and how the state's eighth grade math and English tests relate to the Regents exams; how performance on the Regents exams relates to SAT scores; and, how performance on the Regents exams relates to first-year performance in college. 

"We are doing a great disservice when we say that a child is proficient when that child is not," said Tisch. "Nowhere is this more true than among our students who are most in need. There, the failure to drill down and develop accurate assessments creates a burden that falls disproportionately on English Language Learners, students with disabilities, African-American and Hispanic young people and students in economically disadvantaged districts - who turn out to be much further behind than anyone recognized."

Tisch contends the new standards will lead to implementation of school reforms necessary to help all children succeed. Steiner said he has asked federal education officials to count the 2010 proficiency scores as part of a transitional year so that districts considered to be troubled would not be penalized for what would look like a significant lack of progress.

At the heart of the new proficiency standards are different point goals and categories.

Until this year, a score of 650 was considered meeting proficiency standards. With the new tests, there are different score standards for math and English, and each grade level has its own standard for those subjects.

With the new tests there are also two different levels of proficiency: "Meets Basic Standard" – defined as "a level that gives students a 75 percent chance of earning a Regents score of 65, sufficient to earn a Regents diploma;" and "Meets Proficiency Standard" – a higher level which points to students being on-track for future college success.

For example, in the third grade the Meets Proficiency Standard (Level 3) mark is  684 for math and 662 for English. The Meets Basic Standard (Level 2) mark for the third grade is 661 for math and 643 for English. The latest scores for Clarkstown show the district has a median score of 698 for math at this level, and 674 for English.

In eighth grade, the Level 3 mark is 673 for math and 658 for English, with the Level 2 marks set at 639 for math and 627 for English. The latest scores for Clarkstown show the district has a median score of 684 at this level for math, and a median score of 670 for English.

"Everyone wants higher standards," said Clarkstown's Leh. "Change is good and its makes us take a look at what we are doing. But these results do not mean the students are performing less."

With the new scoring structure for the proficiency tests, Leh said the district has begun examining its instructional programs and professional development efforts for teachers to see where changes may be needed to meet the higher math and English goals set by the state.

"Every district is thinking about this today and looking at the data," Leh said. "What matters most is day-by-day we have a rigorous curriculum that challenges the students to succeed."

Based on the new scoring system for English, Clarkstown is shown as having 7.7 percent of its third graders at "Level 1" – below standard – and 22.1 percent at "Level 4" - exceeds proficiency standard. In Math, the new standards show 3.9 percent of third graders at Level 1, with 29.3 percent at Level 4.

Going up to the eighth-grade level for English, Clarkstown has 3.3 percent of its students at Level 1, with 14.2 percent at Level 4. In Math, the 5.2 percent of eighth-graders are at Level 1, with 22.5 percent at Level 4.