In the debate about the best way to reform New York’s underperforming public schools, there is no shortage of proposed solutions — from charters and choice to more professional development and higher pay for teachers.
But no reform can succeed without an accurate and objective measure of where our students are in their learning. That’s why testing and teacher evaluations continue to be both vital and contentious. And it’s also why we’re so troubled by what has turned up with the grading of the Regents English exams this year.
For years, teachers graded Regents exams taken by students in their own schools. This year, the Regents Board changed the policy. They decided tests would be graded by teachers outside the school.
Lo and behold, when New York City teachers weren’t grading their own students’ tests, the failures rose — from 27 percent in 2012 to 35 percent in 2013. In 73 of the city’s public schools, the number of students to achieve the passing score of 65 plunged by more than 20 percent.
Ouch.
You’d think the results of an experiment in more objective grading might embarrass city officials when it revealed their students weren’t doing as well as they had thought. But Mayor de Blasio doesn’t think much of tests.
Only a few months ago, the de Blasio administration announced that for grades 3-8, test scores will no longer be the chief determinant of whether students should move on to the next grade. Instead, the administration said it will implement a more “holistic” policy, taking factors such as classroom attendance into determining grade promotion.
The problem here is obvious. School attendance, of course, is important. But just showing up for class doesn’t mean a student is learning. The only way to know whether students have mastered the material they are being taught (and are ready to move up to the next level) is to test them.
We understand that moving away from honest and objective measures makes it politically easier for mayors and chancellors presiding over a failing system. But it is a grave dereliction of their obligation to our schoolchildren.
If they’re not learning, the school system needs to know — and not simply pass them up the chain until they drop out or leave high school without the skills they need for college or work.