NY Revising Learning Standards, Keeps 3-day Testing Regimen for Now

Despite loud parental complaints about the length of time their kids spend taking the New York State English Language Arts and Mathematics tests, officials announced Monday that third- through eighth-graders will still spend three days taking the tests for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years while the state learning standards are revised.

State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia pointed out that the state had already made big changes based on recommendations from educators, including:

• reduced the lengths of the tests so they contained fewer test questions;
• allowed students as much time as needed to complete the tests to provide students further opportunity to demonstrate what they know and can do by allowing them to work at their own pace;
• released more test questions than ever before (75%) and earlier than ever before;
• transformed the parent score reports to be more user-friendly and useful to parents.

“After listening to the concerns and feedback from countless educators and parents, last year we made significant changes to the ELA and math tests to reduce the pressure for children and provide educators with more information about the tests than ever before,” Elia said. “While we closely examined shortening the testing days based on this feedback, our expert analysis determined it would not be feasible to do that and still be able to have meaningful growth comparisons for students, schools or statewide. We will reexamine shortening the testing days as part of designing the tests for the state’s new learning standards.”

New York State United Teachers reacted angrily.

“Despite a fierce outcry against the length of state standardized tests by parents and educators, the State Education Department is punting on the changes needed to move forward. So much for listening. What’s worse than SED’s failure to heed the legitimate concerns of parents and educators, however, is its indefensible rationale for not reducing the number of test days from three to two. With wholesale changes expected to the state’s standards, tests and evaluations — and a moratorium on the use of test results for students and teachers in place through 2019-20 — there is no reason to continue to subject children to three days of standardized tests that mean little. NYSUT strongly encourages the State Education Department to reconsider, and to continue to work with stakeholders to develop age- and developmentally appropriate assessments that are fair and meaningful. Teaching and learning must always take precedence over testing.”

NYSED, its assessment contractor, Brewster, NY-based Questar, and its assessment Technical Advisory Committee, looked into the feasibility of modifying the tests to a two-session design, officials said.

That review found that making such a substantial change to the test design would render it inappropriate to make longitudinal student growth comparisons of the test results at any level — school, district or state.

Therefore, the 2017 tests would have not been able to be used to make comparisons to test results from prior years in order to gauge how students are progressing, officials said.

So they're keeping the three-day test cycle for now, saying it will provide important three-year trend data on student performance at the school, district and state levels as well as help determine the growth of individual students, they said.

“I have always said that state assessments must be diagnostic, valid, and reliable – and they must provide timely and practical information to teachers, administrators and parents,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa. “Maintaining the current testing for now will allow us to measure student development over time in these areas. While we will consider moving to two-day tests for 2019, we will also examine the possibility of adding multiple measures of student achievement into the assessments.”

New tests are coming, because new state standards are coming.

So, NYSED will revisit shortening the tests when it implements new Grades 3-8 tests in 2019 resulting from the standards revisions process that is currently underway, officials said.

Teachers and parents have been involved in every step of the revision process and their input drove the changes, officials insisted.

The new draft standards build upon Elia’s past year of traveling more than 35,000 miles across New York state, talking with parents, teachers and the public about the state’s learning standards and assessments (as mandated by the state legislature).

In fall 2015, SED conducted a survey (AIMHighNY) of teachers, parents and other stakeholders about the current standards. More than 10,500 people responded to the survey and provided over 750,000 pieces of feedback.

In April 2016, SED convened ELA and Math Learning Standards Review committees, comprised of more than 130 teachers, administrators, parents, higher education representatives and other key stakeholders from across the state. Committee members participated in a weeklong, in-person summit in Albany and numerous conference calls to help develop recommended changes to the standards.

In addition, SED formed Standards Review Leadership Teams which included representatives from the New York State United Teachers, BOCES, the New York City Department of Education and SED.

The review committees recommended substantive changes to the standards based on the AIMHighNY survey, the recommendations the Governor’s Common Core Task Force Report and their own expertise. In addition, the committees engaged with a child development expert to get input on developing age-appropriate standards, state officials said.

The review committees discussed all of the ELA and mathematics standards and, overall, recommended changes to 60 percent of the ELA standards and 55 percent of the math standards. SED took public comments on the draft standards through Nov. 4.

English language learner and special education teachers were integral to the process of proposing changes to the standards. In addition, SED has engaged an independent expert to review the new learning standards and provide guidance on how to appropriately implement the standards for ELL and students with disabilities.

Recommended Changes to ELA Standards

Five subcommittee groups (Prekindergarten-Grade 2, Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12 and Literacy 6-12), all of which included parents and educators, discussed the current ELA standards to determine whether each standard meets the criteria for what a student should know and be able to do at a grade level (or grade-band) in English language arts and literacy. Committees also had an opportunity to recommend new areas to strengthen the standards.

Recommended changes include to:

· Streamline Reading for Information and Reading for Literature Standards by merging them together, identifying the unique skills related to literature and informational text, and ensuring a healthy balance of both types of reading across all grades;

· Refocus on Prekindergarten-Grade 2 Standards with some grade-specific changes and additions to the ELA Standards, including a strong emphasis on the whole child and the importance of play as an instructional strategy. This includes the need for additional guidance for P-2 on how the standards are implemented in the classroom, including sample instructional strategies and activities, definitions and clear connections to teaching English language learners and students with disabilities;

· Create a New York State Early Learning Task Force to discuss concerns around the P-2 grades, including standards, program decisions, social emotional needs and how the content areas/domains work together in the early grades. This task force will be formed in the coming weeks;

· Re-organize Writing Standards so they are easier for educators to use for curriculum and instruction. In addition to regrouping the standards, grade-specific changes are recommended across the grades to clarify language and ensure writing expectations are clear;

· Use a Variety of Texts to balance literary and informational reading with clear guidance for teachers and to ensure students read both full-length texts and shorter pieces, as well as to encourage reading for pleasure; and

· Provide Guidance on Text Complexity for all standards in the introduction to underscore its importance.

To provide educator support in the new learning standards, the committees recommended the following:

· Develop New York State Resources and Guidance for the Standards: A set of learning standards cannot be properly utilized without the necessary guidance. The committees recommend developing a set of resources for standards, curriculum and professional development. These resources would include strategies and supports for students with disabilities and English language learners, as well as instructional strategies that could serve as examples in the classroom;

· Include a Preface and Grade-Level Introductions for the new set of English Language Arts Standards that explains the importance of the standards and their intended role in a school instructional plan. The preface and introduction would outline a belief statement that includes references to best teaching practices and learning strategies that aim to foster a love of learning for all students;

· Develop Clear Communications for Parents about the standards, with an explanation about the connections among standards, curriculum and assessments; and

· Create a Glossary of Terms that contains words or important terms used within the standards.

Recommended Changes to Mathematics Standards

Seven grade band/course subcommittees (PreK-Grade 2, Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry and Plus Standards) comprised of New York State P-12 classroom teachers, special education teachers, English language learner teachers, parents, curriculum specialists, school administrators and college professors discussed and made recommendations for possible revisions or additions to the standards.

Recommended changes include to:

· Clarify the Standards so that educators, students and parents clearly understand the expectation, without limiting instructional flexibility. For example, recommended modifications would help better define the progression of skills and the transition of some of the 18 shared standards between Algebra I and Algebra II;

· Strengthen Coherency of the Standards to allow for a stronger connection of learning within and across grade levels. For example, one additional standard at the Kindergarten level would help solidify pattern recognition and creation from Pre-K to Grade 2. In addition, standards regarding time and money would be added and current standards would be changed to smooth the transition of building these skills at the PreK-grade 3 level;

· Improve focus of major content and skills for each grade-level and course while providing more time for students to develop deep levels of understanding. For example, to remove the parabola/directrix/focus standard out of Algebra II and place it in the plus standards with the study of conics;

· Maintain the Rigor of the Standards by balancing the need for conceptual understanding, procedural skill and application. For example, clearly identify the fluency standards at the high school level; and

· Create a Glossary of Verbs associated with the mathematics standards. This glossary contains a list of verbs that appear throughout the revised standards recommendations.

This fall, SED will carefully review the public comments and make final revisions to the ELA and Mathematics Learning Standards. The final revisions will be presented to the Board of Regents for its consideration in early 2017.

Video of teachers on the committee discussing the process of developing the standards is available here.

Image from State Commissioner MaryEllen Elia video discussing the new standards