Understanding the Eighth Grade Regents Exams

(Editor's Note: The Garden City School District submitted the following explanation of the eighth grade Regents exams.)

Just as excerpts from a book do not tell the whole story, so, too, selective data pulled from a report does not completely inform the reader. It is vital to understand how all the pieces fit together and what the larger goal is before assuming that the hero in Chapter 5 is still the hero at the conclusion of the book.

 A recent Newsday feature drew attention to the rising number of eighth grade students sitting for Regents exams in math and science across Long Island. The article highlighted eighth grade enrollment, and the number and percentage of students passing. It did not include, however, a breakdown of student scores, such as those achieving "mastery" levels (85 percent or better) and whether taking Regents exams in eighth grade is a predictor of the number of Advanced Placement (AP) classes students take and pass at the high school level.   

"Our 2008-2009 results show that we (again) have 100 percent of our Grade 8 accelerated math students (201) passing the Regents exams in Integrated Algebra (with 72 percent mastery) and 193 Earth Science students passing the Regents (with 98 percent mastery)," according to Garden City Middle School Principal Dr. Peter Osroff. 

"Our school's philosophy is that parents, with guidance from the school, know their children best. We provide every student with the opportunity to take accelerated high school level work through an open admissions policy in the middle school. We do not want to limit opportunities – we have open opportunities, but by waiting the one year until students are developmentally ready to take the high school-level work, they are nearly universally successful."

Dr. Osroff continued, "As evidence of this, the non-accelerated Integrated Algebra students in Grade 9 were able to accomplish a 94 percent passing rate with a 32 percent mastery rate. Last year, 90 percent of Garden City High School students who took the Earth Science passed with 37 percent achieving mastery levels. Again, by waiting one year, our non-accelerated students met with great success."

He further notes that "the schools which accelerate all students do not collectively have the highest high school AP participation rates. Students simply finish mandated coursework earlier, but do not necessarily continue with the sequences. Additionally, students who fail the Regents are then tracked into lower performing classes from Grade 9 through high school, and a low or failing Regents grade is recorded on a student's high school report card. It is not in the student's best interest to begin his/her high school transcript with low or failing grades."

Assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, Dr. Teresa Prendergast, examined Garden City's student achievement data and provided further pieces of the eighth grade Regents exam story.

"The Earth Science Regents has been administered in the middle school for several years. The data below reflects an increase in the number of Garden City students who were accelerated in the eighth grade, but it is also important to note that the mastery rates have also increased. Last year, 56 percent of our eighth grade class was in the accelerated Earth Science Regents course," Dr. Prendergast stated. 

Earth Science Regents    # students         % passing              % mastery

2008-09                                 193                      100%                      98%

2007-08                                 196                      100%                      92%

2006-07                                 167                      100%                      91%

2005-06                                188                      100%                       88%

2004-05                                151                       100%                       89%

"The Integrated Algebra course was introduced last year. 201 middle school students took the course (which represents 58 percent of the eighth grade class), and we had 100 percent passing, with a mastery rate of 72 percent. Prior to last year, accelerated eighth grade math students took the Math A Regents exam in January of their freshman year," Dr. Prendergast stated. 

"A review of the 2008-09 New York State School Report Cards for the middle schools of our comparator districts, as well as those districts who appear to accelerate a large percentage of their population, is listed below."

District                     % mastery Integrated Algebra        % mastery Earth Science

Garden City                                                               72%                                                  98%

Great Neck N                                                            84%                                                  89%

Great Neck S                                                             85%                                                  98%

Herricks                                                                      65%                                                  76%

Jericho                                                                        92%                                                  97%

Locust Valley                                                            32%                                                  96%

North Shore                                                             40%                                                  65%

Weber MS (Port Washington)                         97%                                                100%

Rockville Centre                                                    42%                                                    58%

Roslyn                                                                        97%                                                    99%

Syosset (Thompson)                                            47%                                                    96%

Syosset (South Woods)                                      59%                                                    98%

Oceanside                                                                32%                                                     92%

Plainedge                                                                 29%                                                     47%

"Finally," Dr. Prendergast continued, "while acceleration for all students does allow for the opportunity for students to complete college-level course while still in high school, that does not mean a student will enroll in an additional year of study in math and/or science in 12th grade."

As Dr. Osroff pointed out, the schools which accelerate all students do not collectively have the highest high school AP participation rates.

"Listed below is data found in our Student Achievement Report, which focused on student enrollment and average scores earned on the 2009 AP math or science courses offered at the high school. With the exception of AP Biology," Dr. Prendergast explained, "enrollment figures in Advanced Placement math and science courses exceed Nassau County averages."

2009 AP Exam 

#of GC students  GC Avg. Score  County Avg. Enrollment  County Average Score

Computer Science: 9      2.00      7     2.79

Calculus BC             50      4.12      21    3.73

Statistics                   85      3.18      29    3.17

Biology                      16      4.31      33    3.21

Chemistry                22      4.09     19    3.51

Physics                      12      3.58      9      3.52

"We want our students to graduate from high school college-ready, prepared to meet the challenges of a college curriculum and the demands of an increasingly knowledge-based work force," Dr. Prendergast stated. "In a similar vein, students leave the middle school academically prepared for the rigors of high school course work."