Math A & Physics Regents Exams Roundly Criticized: Most MHS Students Pass

by Judy Silberstein

(June 21, 2003) Most of the Mamaroneck students taking the Math A and Physics Regents exams this week passed the test. Nevertheless, the heads of the Math and Science departments found much to criticize, as did educators from across New York State.

Mamaroneck teachers were still regrading the Math A exams on Friday, June 20, after the NY State Department of Education issued an alert that one item was found to have two correct answers. Department Chairperson Gerry Brause released preliminary results indicating that 390 students took the test and 82.8% passed. This included students from a self-contained special education class who are not required to pass this exam to graduate, and another small group of seniors who must pass the exam to earn a diploma.

[Updated October 2003: final data show fewer students passed with the original criteria, but many more passed under revised scores.]

“The passing rate is pretty high, said Brause, “The problem is some kids won’t graduate and the test did not represent the curriculum. The way they’ve changed the grading and the test doesn’t allow the kids to show what they know.”

Only 91% of the seniors who took the test passed, which means a handful may not be able to receive a diploma at graduation. It will be up to Mamaroneck school officials whether these seniors can participate in graduation ceremonies. The State Department of Education made clear in a statement issued June 20 that, “In order to receive a diploma a student must meet State-established graduation requirements.”

Science Department Chair Dr. Fred Levine was also analyzing test results on Friday. He estimated that 95% of the students had passed the Physics Regents. That will come as a relief to the students who had been hearing and circulating rumors that 30% or 40% of the students had failed.

However, for most of Levine’s twenty-five years teaching Physics at Mamaroneck High School, almost every student passed the Regents exam. Last year, the Regents launched a new test with a new grading system and only 80% of the Mamaroneck students passed. (See Larchmont Gazette, June 25, 2002: Unprecedented Failure Rate May Not Reflect What Students Know)

“It’s a concern,” said Levine. “The science department has done a terrific job of getting almost 100% of the students to take science for three or four years."

“Kids who had been afraid of physics, say they had a wonderful experience, after experiencing teachers like Allie Brown and Jerry Schmidt,” said Levine. “We are getting larger numbers of students who have taken regents physics enrolling in the next level – Advanced Placement Physics B. We’ve gone to 4 sections, instead of the 2 or 3 in the past.”

“I hope that these higher level exams that have yet to reach a reasonable equilibrium do not discourage students from pursuing the science curriculum,” he said.

“A hard test is OK, but it should be reasonable,” Levine concluded.

In other parts of the state, failure rates were much higher and teachers were even more critical.

In Rochester, all 300 students taking the Math A test at the Wilson Magnet high school flunked, according to Channel R News. For physics, Channel R was reporting unusually low passage rates, as low as 40% for an elective course that draws stronger students, particularly in high schools that do not offer Advanced Placement alternatives.

Veteran math teacher Alice Golar from Rockland County told the Gazette, that this year's Math A test "was the most poorly designed exam I have ever seen in my 45 years of experience in public and private school.”

“Increasing the challenge does have a salutary effect,” she conceded, “but at some level you reach the tipping point and you totally frustrate the kids and turn them off.” Like Mamaroneck’s Gerry Brause, she felt this exam had reached the tipping point. Neither teacher was for “cookie cutter questions,” but they both noted that average students could not begin to unravel many of the problems.

"A good exam should help you see the big picture,” explained Brause. “You have all the pieces and you put them together; you use all the math you’ve learned.” Even students who passed were not happy with the test or their scores in many cases, she reported.

“With this test, everyone is left with a bad feeling,” she said.

Reached at home in New Rochelle, NY Regent Saul Cohen expressed his dismay with another year of upset over the Regents exams. He had received numerous phone calls and letters from agitated parents and school personnel about the physics and math tests.

“I had hoped based on last years criticisms that whatever problems existed had since been resolved,” he said. “Clearly this does not appear to be the case.”

“I’m working with my fellow regents to see how the situation can be remedied as quickly as possible,” he reported. “It really is unfair to the youngsters of this state if indeed there are flaws in our tests.”

The New York State Department of Education in Albany was also besieged with calls from upset parents and educators. SED was focusing first on the Math A tests needed for graduation, and leaving the physics tests for later. By Friday afternoon, they had written the schools asking for immediate relay of Math A answer sheets so the department could conduct a series of analyses. The will be focusing on the difficulty of individual items, the cumulative difficulty of the items and a comparison of student performance across exam administrations.

SED will have to act fast. Mamaroneck High School graduation ceremonies are on Thursday, June 26 and school ends the next day. Unless new test results come to the rescue quickly, there will be a number of disappointed students, parents, and teachers in Mamaroneck and across the state.