New York State will effectively lower the bar used to determine proficiency in math and English for grammar school students on standardized exams, according to a report.
A scoring committee said on Monday that they will consider scores from last year’s tests to determine the benchmarks of proficiency, according to the Times Union. Last year, math proficiency on state standardized exams dropped 7.6 points from 2019. Some research indicates that test scores within the state might be worse than previously thought, because roughly 20% of students refused to even take the exam, the New York Post reported.
To reach a level 3, the baseline that indicates proficiency, the committee reportedly determines the material students should know and then order it on the basis of difficulty, according to the Times Union. The committee then reportedly determines which questions a student must get correct in order to be satisfy the standards. The committee then reportedly takes into account how many students would be considered “proficient” under those standards. (RELATED: Democratic Senator Declares War On Standardized Tests)
Most students in New York State did NOT take the state standardized exams last spring, per data just released by the state education department: pic.twitter.com/FWOASyHM7R
— Jillian Jorgensen (@Jill_Jorgensen) October 28, 2021
Taking last year’s scores into account as a baseline, the committee will reportedly lower the expectations of how much material students are expected to know. “Right now we’re setting new cut scores for 2023. This is the baseline moving forward,” Technical Advisory Committee Co-Chair Marianne Perie said, the outlet reported.
“Yes, there’s learning loss between 2019 and 2022, but in some ways we don’t want to keep going backwards,” Perie added. “We’re at this new normal. So for New York we are saying the new baseline is 2022.”
As of now, the committee is working on setting the goal benchmarks for Math and English Language Arts exams. This summer, they will work on resetting standards for the U.S. history Regents exam, the Times Union reported.