The June 2015 Algebra I Regents Explained 8/19/15 A brief history… • Until January of 2002, Algebra was called “Sequential Math I” or “Course I”. This was the last course where the percent you got correct directly translated to the grade you received. • Ex. If you got 75 points, you received a 75% for the exam • This was also the last exam to be scored out of 100 points. • June 2002 introduced the Math A exam, which was a year an a half long course (we did it in two years at Norwich) that included Algebra and some Geometry • This exam was out of 85 points and introduced the “conversion chart”, which was essentially a curve. • Ex. On the June of 2003 exam, using the original conversion chart, 51/85 points translated into a 65. That meant that student needed to know 60% of the exam to pass. However… • On that same June 2003 exam, 63% of students across the state who took the exam failed it. • In response, NYSED changed the conversion chart. After the change, 51/85 points now granted a score of 75. The passing score dropped to 36/85, which means that you only need to know 42% of the exam to pass. But this also affected the high end • Students shooting for “Mastery” (85 or above) only needed to get 60/85 to get a grade of 85. But that meant they only need to know 71% of the exam! • Essentially, most students basically received anywhere between 10 and 20 points added on to their percent correct to determine their final score (the extreme ends of the chart varied). • The conversion chart continued to add more and more points as time went on. And then it changed again • Math A ended in January of 2009. The new course that took its place was called Integrated Algebra. • This exam brought the course back to a oneyear class, and kept a similar number of total points (87) and conversion chart (On June of 2008, 30/87 points got you a 65. That’s only 34% correct! • Mastery could be achieved with a score of 65/87, which got you an 85 by knowing 75%. Which brings us to: • Common Core Algebra I was first given last year in June of 2014. • Due to several issues with the rollout of Common Core, students were allowed to take both the Common Core Regents and the previous Integrated Algebra Regents and keep the higher of the two scores. • In June of 2015 all NCSD Freshmen (and advanced 8th graders) could only take the new Common Core Regents. So what’s the big deal? • There are several conditions that combined to create a disaster for students at Norwich, including Common Core, Modules, the Conversion Chart, Pre-Algebra, and staffing changes. The Common Core issue • The level of difficulty for questions on the exams has increased each time the course changed name/curriculum, but Common Core was the biggest jump yet. Take a look at an example from Integrated algebra (June of 2014) 13 Which relation is a function? (1) {(2,1), (3,1), (4,1), (5,1)} (2) {(1,2), (1,3), (1,4), (1,5)} (3) {(2,3), (3,2), (4,2), (2,4)} (4) {(1,6), (2,8), (3,9), (3,12)} And now compare that to: Common Core June of 2014: 21 A sunflower is 3 inches tall at week 0 and grows 2 inches each week. Which function(s) shown below can be used to determine the height, f(n), of the sunflower in n weeks? I. f(n) = 2n + 3 II. f(n) = 2n +3(n - 1) III. f(n) = f(n - 1) + 2 where f(0) = 3 (1) I and II (2) III, only (3) II, only (4) I and III Then there were the Modules • Modules are a set of pre-written lessons, provided though EngageNY.org, that the NCSD chose to Adopt as-is. This meant that teachers had to follow them “to a t”. However, they were not created by the same people who write the Regents exams, so they did not necessarily line up to each other. They also did not provide for differentiation for different learning levels. • Additionally, the modules came out late (so teachers were learning them literally days before teaching them) and the times listed that each lesson was supposed to take were completely unrealistic. • Let’s not forget to mention either that students were expected to have had years of common core experience going into these lessons, which they obviously did not. • There are also no approved textbooks for the course, so there is limited reference material for parents to use (if they can even understand how the material is taught). Staffing • In the 13-14 school year when the new CC Algebra course was first offered none of our long-term Algebra teachers were left at the high school. As a result, a brand new teacher and a veteran teacher (that had not taught Algebra in quite some time) were left to fill that gap. Course Offerings • A previous administrator, over the objections of the math department, eliminated the PreAlgebra course that used to be taught at the high school. It was designed for students that had typically failed their math state testing in grades 3-8 and that needed more time with the basics to be ready for Algebra. • As a result, all of those students were thrown into a course where they had no chance for success. Compared to other districts • I spoke with Nan Gizowski at BOCES to see how many other districts offer a Pre-Algebra course or a two-year Algebra track. Although she did not hear back from every district in the BOCES, she believes that Norwich is currently the ONLY school that did not offer one of those two options in the 14-15 school year. And that conversion chart… • Most of you have already seen the letter I sent home to parents. As a quick comparison to the previous courses, for the June of 2015 exam a student needed 30/86 to get a 65 (35%). However, at the upper end, a student needed 75/86 to get an 85 (87%). So now instead of adding points at the higher end, the chart actually subtracts points! Why did it change? • For whatever reason, the middle of the pack is now highly clustered up like never before. For example, getting 40/86 points this year would grant you a score of 70, but a score of 61/86 would only get you a 75! • This practically ensures that all but the best performing students end up in the 70’s, and lumps them in with students who knew less than half of the material on the exam! So why wasn’t this an issue last year? • It was! You likely didn’t hear about it though because the majority of our students did better on the “old style exam” and took that grade; the results of the common core exam were widely disregarded due to that fact. • On average, my advanced students last year scored 10 points higher on the older integrated exam than on the common core exam. But the worst is yet to come… • The class of 2022 (this year’s incoming 6th graders) will need to reach a higher score to pass the exam. • If you were to use the June of 2015 exam’s conversion chart, a student in the class of 2022 would need to score 56/86 points to pass (which is exactly 65% of the exam). That’s nearly DOUBLE the score they currently need to pass. Worst-case scenario: • Using the conversion chart numbers for the class of 2022 and applying them to this year’s exam, you would see the following: • This year’s advanced 8th graders would go from a 100% pass rate to a 68% pass rate • The high school would only have had TWO students pass (out of the 155 who took the exam). What about other districts? Here’s a chart comparing BOCES results: And this uses the 2022 standards: So what are we doing about it? • Instructional changes • Course offerings • Instructional supports Instruction • Modules are no longer being followed as-is. Appropriate changes and adjustments are being made. • Enough Regents exams have now been given that we can start to get a better feel for what kinds of questions will potentially show up, which makes it easier to direct our focus during instruction. Course Offerings • This year we will finally be bringing back the Pre-Algebra offering. • We will also be looking into a two-year course possibility, but that would likely require an increase in staffing at the high school. Instructional support • The newly created “Teacher Leader” positions will allow for more direct critiquing and collaboration for direct instruction. • Remember the Regents results from other local districts? Those Sidney results were all from one teacher, and we reached out to that teacher. He can be found on tonight’s personnel recommendations! Questions?