New York state will lower the level required for students to be considered “proficient” on math and English tests.
The change, which will affect students in grades three through eight, is a response to the reality that academic standards have declined since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Last year, students in New York performed appallingly compared to 2019. At Schenectady, not a single eighth grader was considered good at math.
The change will lower the proficiency threshold in tests, known as the “cut score”, to ensure more students show up in good academic shape.
“Yes, between 2019 and 2022 there are learning losses, but in a way we don’t want to go further backwards,” Perie told the Times Union. “We are in this new normal. So for New York, we say the new baseline is 2022.”
New York state will lower the level required for students to be considered “proficient” on math and English tests
The change, which will affect students in grades three through eight, is a response to the reality that academic standards have declined since the Covid-19 pandemic
“They are changing it because too many children would not be classified as ‘competent’ due to the impact of the pandemic on academic learning,” Jasmine Gripper, executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education, told .
Gripper said moving the goalposts by lowering the thresholds not only reduces the test’s credibility, but also perpetuates inequalities between children and traps certain children in underperforming schools.
“By changing the cut scores, we protect affluent white communities from experiencing the consequences of high-stakes state testing that black and brown communities have forever grappled with,” she said.
“There will still be kids at the bottom, and the kids that have traditionally been at the bottom are going to stay at the bottom,” she said.
Gripper argued that the need to change the rod exposes flaws in the system and the damage such testing can do.
“It really speaks to why state testing is problematic,” Gripper said. “We want tests that drive teaching, instead teachers are encouraged to teach after the test.”
She also explained that the change would have negative consequences that would not apply to affluent communities.
Schools that underperform in the statewide tests could be placed on “reception” – meaning certain schools could be closed and older teachers could be incentivized to go to better-performing schools.
“Often these assessments don’t result in learning enhancements, just labels that are difficult to break away from,” Gripper said.
“Your home value will be determined by how well the kids do in local schools. It’s the pampering, that’s what we’ve always done and always will do,” she added.
In the US, math scores saw their biggest drop ever due to the pandemic, and reading scores fell to levels not seen since the early 1990s
Many of the problems schools across the country are facing stem from the pandemic and the way lockdowns have impacted children’s education and exacerbated inequalities.
“They think we had rampant inequality before the pandemic, then there was a move to distance learning that exacerbated the inequality. Depending on whether you had high-speed internet at home, you may not be able to fully participate,” Gripper said.
She says the three academic years have been heavily influenced by the response to Covid. The first year was hybrid, the next was almost entirely secluded, and the third became hybrid again. Only now are the schools getting back on their feet.
Later this summer, the committee will do the same for the US History Regents Exam—the change going into effect in 2024.
In the US, math scores saw their biggest drop ever due to the pandemic, and reading scores fell to levels not seen since the early 1990s, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress — known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” .
Collecting results from hundreds of thousands of fourth and eighth graders found that nearly four out of ten eighth graders did not understand basic math concepts.