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Future students may see Regents exams decoupled from their diploma

By Mallie Jane Kim

In the heat of finals season anxiety on June 10, New York State Education Department shared a vision for future updates as to how students earn a high school diploma, including decoupling Regents exams from graduation requirements. 

But these changes are not happening just yet.

“A lot of people got very excited on Monday when the Regents met to discuss what their vision is going to be for the new graduation measures,” said Karen Roughley, Three Village Central School District board member, at a meeting June 12. “But right now it is still a vision.”

In addition to removing Regents as a graduation requirement, the education department’s vision sets out a “Portrait of a Graduate,” which would require New York students show proficiency in critical thinking, problem solving, literacy across content areas, cultural and social-emotional competency, effective communication and global citizenship. Under the vision, credits would be based on demonstrating proficiency rather than time spent in class and students could demonstrate proficiency through various pathways, not limited to assessments like Regents exams.

Roughley, who sat as a parent member on the Blue Ribbon Commission which initially gave the recommendations that inspired this new vision, emphasized that the state Department of Education still needs to work out details before implementing any changes.

“It looks beautiful on their presentation,” she said. “It’s something I think that we need to aspire to, but there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered.”

The Board of Regents plans to hold forums through October to gather feedback from stakeholders and will continue to fine-tune the vision into a full plan, which should be ready by November.

Regents exam scores in final grade

Those Regents exams were front of mind for some worried parents and students, who in Three Village will see their exam scores count as 10% of their final grade for the first time since a COVID-era “Do No Harm” policy allowed the scores to be left out if they would negatively impact a final mark.

Despite emails requesting a return of “Do No Harm,” the Three Village board opted to stay the course they charted in a 4-2 vote last November to end the policy, but left open the possibility of reexamining the issue in the fall.

 “A vote is a vote, and it has to matter unless the circumstances have changed,” said board president Susan Rosenzweig. “They really haven’t right now.”

 New York does not provide a recommendation on whether or how much to count Regents exams in final course grades, but rather leaves it up to each individual district. 

Three Village administrators say Regents scores shouldn’t be a major worry for students. District data presented at the meeting showed even if a student exam score is 20 percentage points less than their average grade per quarter, the overall grade would only drop by two points. For example, a student who has a 95 in the four quarters of classwork but scores 75% on the Regents, the overall grade would drop to 93.

“It wouldn’t have a significant impact,” said Brian Biscari, assistant superintendent for educational services, who previously shared the rationale for including the scores was partly out of concern students take the exams less seriously when they don’t count toward their GPA.

Though to some, even two points may be extremely valuable. 

“Oftentimes a single point can be the difference between being accepted or rejected from your dream school,” wrote an unnamed student in an email to the Three Village board. “As someone who strives for excellence in the classroom, I work diligently to ensure that my GPA is the highest it can possibly be.”

The student’s email, read aloud during the public comment section of the board meeting, added that lower scores could also disadvantage Three Village students looking to earn scholarships. 

Biscari pointed to the fact that teachers are the ultimate authority on each student’s grade and can adjust a final grade if a student underperforms on a test, relative to their demonstrated proficiency. 

“A two-point discrepancy is well within our teachers’ purview to change,” he said.

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Some parents had advocated to make the pandemic-era reprieve permanent

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Regents exam scores will account for 10% of student grades this year in Three Village Central School District, despite calls to extend a COVID-19 pandemic-era policy that only includes the scores when they improve student course grades.

The decision, which came after robust discussion and disagreement among board members at their Nov. 29 meeting, goes along with the recommendation of a district committee to include the scores at 10% of the final grade — down from the 12% that was policy before the pandemic reprieve.

Freshman board members Karen Roughley and David McKinnon spoke openly against including scores in all student grades, particularly because New York State does not mandate doing so for all districts, and they said it could disadvantage Three Village students who struggle with test anxiety, have special needs or experience a personal catastrophe before the test date.

“Using the Regents scores would decrease a student’s GPA and put them at a disadvantage against all the other students in the state who do not have it included, in applying for colleges and scholarships,” Roughley said.

The State Education Department’s website states it “does not require nor recommend the inclusion of Regents exam scores in the computation of final course averages,” and rather leaves it up to each district to decide.

McKinnon called this approach a failure of leadership. “The state doesn’t stand behind their test,” he said. “The state makes the test, they pass it out, they grade it, but then they have no effective policy on what we should do with that test.”

After parents — especially those of children with special needs — spoke out last spring, the previous board voted to extend the so-called Do No Harm policy through the end of the 2022-2023 school year with the caveat that a permanent decision should come this fall.

In recommending inclusion of Regents scores at 10%, the committee suggested students may not take the exams as seriously if the scores don’t count toward a course grade.

Trustee Vincent Vizzo, a former teacher and administrator who has a long affiliation with Three Village and said he was part of writing Regents exams in the past, admitted he was not a fan of the state tests and understands they can hurt students who do not do well. “I have very mixed opinions right now,” he said. “But if a committee of educators are saying that they want to keep the percentage, then I don’t think the board should micromanage and decide against what the committee is saying.”

Board president Susan Rosenzweig also expressed mixed feelings, saying she believes Do No Harm makes philosophical sense, but that there can be valuable information garnered from all students “meaningfully engaging in the assessments.”

When the remaining board members echoed Vizzo’s desire to defer to the committee of professional educators, Rosenzweig attempted to broker a compromise by suggesting the board include the scores at 5% instead of 10%, which she said was her “comfort level,” but only trustee Jeffrey Kerman expressed interest in changing the percentage, saying he would vote for either 5% or 10%.

Seeing no appetite for middle ground, Rosensweig cast the deciding vote with an audible sigh. “Because I guess it’s not going to go any other way,” she said.

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Three Village school board discusses cell phones, including Regents exams in course grades

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District parents should not expect more information about the surprise reassignment and investigation of Ward Melville High School’s principal, according to Three Village Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon.

Due to federal and state privacy laws, district representatives can’t discuss personnel matters  — and they won’t be able to even after the issue is resolved.

The board had an emergency meeting Wednesday, Nov. 8, after announcing the personnel change, with a public portion that lasted only a couple of minutes, time enough for the board to confirm the interim principal — Paul Gold, previously an assistant principal — and his compensation, as well as to vote to engage the services of Investigative Management Group.

District parent Qin Wu at the Nov. 15 board meeting spoke out in support of former principal William Bernhard and indicated parents were concerned for high school seniors.

“As a parent, I hope the investigation will be fair and transparent, and maybe even as soon as possible to resolve the issue and have everything come back to normal,” Wu said.

Scanlon told TBR News Media after the meeting that even though such transparency is not possible, Wu and other parents have nothing to worry about regarding their children’s education or the district’s reputation.

“I think the school is in good hands, and the acting administration is doing a wonderful job,” he said. “The educational system is still intact. Classes will remain, students will still go to college. No one’s going to be harmed that way,” adding, “If that is the fear that is being propagated, that’s wrong.”

Board president Susan Rosenzweig, a district parent herself, also spoke against percolating speculation and hearsay on social media. “Don’t buy in,” she advised. “Let due process take its place. It’s tough, I know.”

Regents exams as part of final grade

During the meeting, the board tabled any decision regarding the so-called “Do No Harm” rule, the policy of including Regents scores as part of a student’s final grade only if that score improves the grade.

The policy, which proponents say supports students who don’t test well, was instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic and temporarily extended last year after a group of parents petitioned the district.

Assistant Superintendent Brian Biscari shared the consensus recommendation that came after “tremendous discourse” by the district’s grading committee to include the exams at 10% — down from the 12% that has been the policy outside the reprieve of the last few years.

Biscari also took issue with the label “Do No Harm” since it implies acting in any other way will inflict harm on students, when part of the concern was that students may not take exams seriously if they don’t count toward final grades.

“It was a very student-centered conversation,” he said. “Never was the conversation about what the district is going to look like or how we’re going to present data. It was all in relation to students.”

But for freshman board member Karen Roughley, a long-time supporter of the policy, a 2% decrease is not enough. “There are many different ways to gauge a child’s understanding of the concepts than just sitting for one single test that means so much,” she said.

Biscari noted that some form of testing is required by the state, and removing any pressure from the Regents exam could backfire for students who need to take licensure exams or other higher-stakes tests in the future.

“We, as a district, would want to arm kids in how to address that anxiety and deal with it so they can effectively take tests, rather than eliminating that stress,” he said. “It’s almost an avoidance in some cases that we’re not teaching kids these skills that they are going to need in their lives.”

The board opted to wait on voting about the issue until it could hear forthcoming data from the state to see whether exam scores changed when students knew low scores would not be included in their final grade, and to learn more about how comparable Long Island districts are using Regents scores for classroom grades.

Cell phone policy

Scanlon also updated the board on the ongoing cell phone policy committee’s work, laying out the current thinking for parameters around student cell phone use in schools.

Currently the committee is ironing out how to best enforce the proposed new policy, though Scanlon emphasized that any consequences will be decided by building principals or the district, and will not be a one-size-fits-all consequence determined by a planning committee.

The board engaged the committee to look into changes after it became apparent that issues of use during instructional time, inconsistent enforcement across classes and cyberbullying were popping up at the secondary schools.

“It’s fully recognized by the teaching staff and the administration that cell phones are an issue, and then we heard loud and clear from the student representatives on the committee that yes, they agree, cell phones are an issue,” Scanlon said. “Everyone seemed to agree: We’ve got a problem.”

He said the final committee recommendations should be available for the Nov. 29 board meeting.

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Ward Melville High School. Photo by Greg Catalano

By Mallie Jane Kim

New York Regents exam scores won’t hurt high schoolers’ classroom grades this year in Three Village Central School District, after the Board of Education extended the policy nicknamed “do no harm,” under which the scores are only factored into classroom grades if they improve the grades. 

The extension of this COVID-19-era policy went against the recommendation  of the district’s grading committee, which had taken up the discussion after a groundswell of concern from parents who preferred the policy, asserting it unfairly hurts students who don’t test well or face anxiety over a one-day test that can hurt a grade they’ve worked for all year. 

The board will still need to decide whether or not to change district policy permanently.

Regents scores already appear on student transcripts, per state regulations. Before “do no harm,” these scores also counted for 12% of a student’s grade in classes where a state exam is required. “It truly is double jeopardy,” said BOE president Susan Rosenzweig during the board’s lively discussion at an April 26 meeting. She suggested students who work hard and succeed in class all year long shouldn’t be affected so badly by a one-day test. “Twelve percent is a lot — it’s a lot,” she said.

Last year, the district announced the end of the pandemic-era policy, and teachers have been planning grades accordingly. According to Brian Biscari, assistant superintendent for educational services, the district’s grading committee — made up of administrators, teachers and guidance counselors — concluded after “extensive discussion” that the policy should end as planned, primarily because students weren’t taking exams as seriously, he said, and scores were slipping.

BOE trustee Deanna Bavlnka strongly disagreed with the grading committee’s recommendation, especially the idea that most students shrug off the test scores, as they do still appear on transcripts. The majority of Three Village students, she said, “want to do well — they don’t want to screw up, they don’t want bad [scores] on their transcripts.” She added that inevitably there will be students who don’t care and don’t take the exams or their grades seriously. “Like anything else, there’s outliers.” 

Bavlnka and other board members also raised concerns about issues with Regents in general, including past state tests they said have not matched curriculum well, or are graded on a steep curve, like chemistry.

“As a teacher, what would you rather have as your tool?” Rosenzweig said. “Do you want a tool that was created by the state, or do you want a tool that was created closer to home and perhaps — I would hope — more reflective of what you’re doing in the classroom?”

Board member Jennifer Solomon suggested the pandemic isn’t fully over. “We’re no longer wearing masks, no more social distancing,” she said. “But we know the social and emotional well-being of our students is still impacted by COVID. I think that extending [the policy] is appropriate.”

Research into restructuring plan approved

The board also voted to authorize district administration and staff to analyze and report on the logistics of a restructuring plan preferred by the community — that is, to move up sixth and ninth grades to middle and high school, respectively — alongside moving secondary school start times later. 

The board voted at an April 12 meeting to table the restructuring plan pending more information on cost and logistics and in order to greater prioritize the start time change.

The body of logistics research described by Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon is in line with what he has previously said would have been the next step anyway.

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