NYT: State Agrees for 28 Schools to Stay Free of Regents Tests
June 22, 2005
New York State lawmakers and education officials reached a tentative deal yesterday to allow 28 alternative schools to continue to evaluate their students on a portfolio of work, like research papers and science projects, in place of most of the state Regents examinations.The alternative schools, mostly located in New York City and collectively known as the New York Performance Standards Consortium, will maintain an exemption from state tests and be able to use their portfolio assessments through 2010, according to officials involved in brokering the deal.
In 2010, however, the schools would be required to administer the exams unless the Board of Regents approves an alternative. Under the agreement, schools still will be required to administer the Regents exam in English, and the test in math or one other subject to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The deal, which the board is expected to approve next month, will head off legislation already passed by the State Senate to extend the exemption for the consortium schools for four years.
The deal came on the same day that the board announced a multiyear plan to increase the passing grade from 55 to 65 on the five Regents exams required for high school graduation. Under the plan, students entering ninth grade this fall must score at least 65 on two of the exams and 55 on the others.
By the time the Class of 2011 enters ninth grade three years from now, those students will be required to score at least 65 on all five tests to earn a diploma.
The chancellor of the board, Robert M. Bennett and the state Education Commissioner, Richard P. Mills, announced the plan yesterday in Albany.
At a news conference, Dr. Mills sought to portray the increase to 65 as the latest effort to raise standards. He noted that the board postponed the increase two years ago out of concern that too many children would fail to earn diplomas.
“The time has come and the Regents have decided to raise the passing score for graduation in a stepwise fashion,” he said. “This is now clearly within reach.”
But the long phase-in made clear just how difficult it was for state officials to raise the bar for high school students. And in addition to delaying the full application of the tougher graduation requirements, the Regents yesterday adopted an appeals process for students who fail by a slim margin.
As a result, some officials accused the state of diminishing standards. “The state keeps delaying the date because we have failed to prepare students to pass the Regents tests,” said City Councilwoman Eva S. Moskowitz.
Assemblyman Steven Sanders, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, praised Regent James R. Tallon Jr. for negotiating a fair compromise. “There should be room for some education programs and assessment that isn’t done in the cookie cutter way,” Mr. Sanders said.
Commissioner Mills did not comment on the deal but said he opposed legislation that would allow an alternative to the exams. Of the schools using portfolios, he said, “If the schools are as good as they claim to be, and I accept those claims, then they ought to be able to pass these exams.”
Randi Weingarten, president of the city teachers’ union, which had supported the alternative schools, said that portfolios in many cases offered as good a measure of students as tests. “We support schools where they have performance assessments that are of equal or greater rigor than the regents,” she said. “And many if not all of these schools do that.”
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