Regents scores now on a 5-level scale |
On Board Online • June 9 2014
By Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer
and
Eric D. Randall
Editor-in-Chief
High school students who took new Common Core-aligned versions of the English Language Arts and Algebra I Regents exams on June 3 will be the first to have their scores calculated on a new five-tier scale.
The new performance level designations are among the latest refinements of test-related policy and practices announced by the State Education Department (SED) as curriculum and teaching techniques evolve with the transition to Common Core Learning Standards.
Currently, students must receive scores of 65 to pass Regents exams, whether those exams are based on Common Core standards or on the 2005 standards.
The class of 2022 – this year’s fourth graders – will be the first required to pass Common Core Regents exams with scores of at least 75, but the new category ratings will serve as a barometer of how students are doing relative to those expectations.
Districts must make some calculations to use the new system. SED will provide districts with students’ raw scores on Regents exams and a chart that administrators can use to convert the raw scores into the five-category ratings.
It will be up to districts to decide whether to share the ratings with students, according to SED. Districts also will be able to convert the raw scores into “scaled” scores on the familiar 100-point scale.
“Just as with the current exams, the Common Core scale will range from 0 [to] 100, and a score of 65 will be required for Regents diploma purposes [under current standards],” Deputy Commissioner Ken Wagner wrote in a memo to administrators last month. “What is new for the Common Core Regents Exams is that the department will provide a chart with cut scores for five performance levels.”
The top tier, Performance Level 5, means a student “exceeds Common Core expectations.” It is analogous to what currently is considered “mastery level” of a subject.
At Performance Level 4, a student “meets Common Core expectations.” This is the level scheduled to be the minimum required for graduation with a Regents Diploma in 2022.
Performance Level 3 means okay for now. Students with scores at Performance Level 3 will have scaled scores equivalent to between 65 and 75. That’s sufficient for a Regents’ diploma under current standards, but is officially defined as only “partially” meeting Common Core expectations.
SED describes Performance Level 2 as a lower range at which students also only “partially” meet Common Core expectations and a “safety net.” This year, students with disabilities who are in Level 2 will meet the requirement for a local diploma.
Level 1 indicates a student “does not demonstrate knowledge and skills for Level 2.”
Because SED constructs the chart for converting students’ raw scores into the five performance levels, it can influence how many students fall into each level. For now, the percentage of students who score at Level 2 and above “will remain comparable” to the percentage of students who currently score at 55 and above on current English and Integrated Algebra exams based on the 2005 standards, Wagner said. The percentages who score at Level 3 and above will be comparable to the percentage of students who currently score at 65 or above.
“This is a transparent and appropriate approach to standard setting that ensures fairness to students and a smooth transition as we continue the full implementation of the Common Core through the Class of 2022,” Wagner wrote in his “Update on Common Core Regents Exams” memo.
This June and August, many students who started taking English and Algebra classes when the old standards still were in place have the option of taking tests aligned to previous learning standards in addition to Common Core-based exams. These students will be able to choose the higher score for purposes of their transcripts or meeting graduation requirements.
The introduction of the five-level scoring scale for high school Regents exams follows the introduction of a four-level scoring scale for grades 3-8 math and ELA exams last year, when those assessments were modified to measure progress toward meeting the Common Core standards.
Wagner noted that the Board of Regents decided in February that the class of 2022 will be the first group required to pass Regents exams with an “aspirational” scoring level of 75 to satisfy the testing requirement for a Regents diploma. He said it’s undecided whether the passing score of 75 will be “phased in gradually prior to the class of 2022.”