Scoring 30% on a test is enough to graduate high school - in NYC Posted: Jun 23rd, 2018 - 8:23 am
The bar keeps dropping on state math exams — and critics are saying it’s because officials are desperate for high graduation rates.
Kids only need to score a measly 30 percent on this month’s Algebra 1 Regents test to pass, according to new state guidelines.
Students who manage just 26 out of 86 total points will get a heavily weighted score of 65 — the minimum required for passage.
That’s the lowest standard since the state introduced the test four years ago.
Students must pass at least one math Regents exam in order to graduate with a conventional Regents diploma that is required by most colleges.
In 2014, it took 31 points — or 34.6 percent — to pass the test. That number dipped to 30 points in 2015 and 27 last year, according to state records.
A kid with a 65 weighted score is considered to be “partially meeting Common Core expectations” — but is still allowed to pass, according to the guidelines.
The Regents Algebra 1 test consists of 37 questions — 24 multiple choice and 13 open-ended problems that require students to show their work.
Each multiple choice question is worth two points and the open-ended problems are assigned varying point values.
A student can theoretically conquer the exam by nailing just 13 of the 24 multiple choice questions alone — without having to worry about the more involved material.
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These gradually lowering standards have led to spiking pass rates in recent years.
“The Regents should be in the business of requiring adequate standards and not be complicit in increasing credit accumulation and high school graduation rates,” CUNY education professor David Bloomfield said. “They are an oversight body.”
Critics assert that loosening standards only harms students in the long run and leaves them — and their parents — with warped perceptions of their progress.
But a state education official said Friday that an experienced group of educators calibrated the requirements each year.
“A standard setting panel defines the knowledge and skills necessary for students who take a particular examination to achieve at each performance level,” said New York State Education Department spokesman Jonathan Burman. “The panel is made up of a diverse and representative group of New York State certified teachers.”
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