THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:	EMSC-VESID Committee
FROM:	Jean C. Stevens
SUBJECT:	Component Retesting
DATE:	February 27, 2007
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1 & 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Discussion

 

Should the Component Retest Program be discontinued?  If yes, will other safety net options that exist for students who are at risk of not meeting the higher graduation standards be sufficient?

 

Reason for Consideration

 

          Review of policy.

 

Proposed Handling

 

This question will come before the Regents EMSC-VESID Committee at its March 2007 meeting.

 

Procedural History

 

Not applicable.

 

Background Information

 

          Component retesting is the process by which a student who has failed the Regents examination in Comprehensive English and/or Mathematics A two or more times is retested only on the areas of the learning standards in which the student has failed to demonstrate proficiency. For each eligible student, the school must conduct item analyses on answer papers written by the student for two administrations of that Regents examination to determine in which component(s) the student is deficient in comparison to the performance of students who are just passing with a scale score in the 65-67 range. The underlying assumption of this program is that certain areas of the learning standards tested on the Regents examinations can be identified as weaknesses for a student, and instructional intervention can be targeted to a student’s particular needs. The Component Retest Program was developed as part of a program of intervention strategies for students who are at risk of not meeting the State learning standards.

 

Reasons for Discontinuing Component Retest Program:

 

          There are several reasons why Department staff recommend discontinuing the Component Retest Program:

 

1.     The Regents Appeals Process is now in effect and provides students with an effective safety net.   This strategy is in addition to the two safety net options available for students with disabilities to earn a local diploma:  (1) the low-pass option on Regents examinations; and (2) taking and passing Regents Competency Tests that correspond to required Regents examinations.

 

2.     Component retesting was intended to ease the transition to the revised diploma and graduation requirements, but this program has not been effective in meeting this purpose.

a.     The average number of students taking component retests each year is low compared to the Regents testing program (average of only 5,299 students annually vs. approximately 260,000 students taking Math A and Comprehensive English each January and June). Of the 5,299 students tested in 2005-2006, 4,809 were general education students and 490 were students with disabilities.  Out of the total 5,299 students tested, 633 were LEP/ELL general education or special education students.

b.     The cost of producing the component retests – both in money and time – is disproportionately high for the number of students served by the program. The cost for this program is approximately $862,000 per year. The example below compares the cost between preparing the Regents Mathematics A examination versus the component retest:

 

Math A Regents Exam	Component Retest
$2.35 per student	$261.00 per student

 

c.     Results for students taking component retests are varied:

Total Public ELA and Mathematics A Component Retests: 2005-2006

 

Total Public Score Results: 2004-2006

 

2005-2006 Demographic Analysis of Students Tested