Dan Fasano & Kevin McGoey
Abstract
 The purpose of this researcher was to investigate the impact of
curricular changes to first-year, high school level Regents
examinations in mathematics on the percentage of student’s
passing the examinations. The participants for this study include
high school students enrolled in 9th grade math courses in
public high schools located in Suffolk County, New York in the
years 1999 to 2011. Data were compiled through the use of the
Suffolk County edition of Data Points (Hughes, 2012). Results
were analyzed using SPSS software for statistical analyses
Version 20.0. Analyses included conducting a One-Way Analysis
of Variance (ANOVA) to test differences among the percentage of
students passing three New York State Regent Exams in Algebra:
Sequential I, Math A and Integrated Algebra. A post-hoc analysis
was conducted using the Scheffee and Tukey HSD tests. This
analysis found significant differences among the percentage of
students passing the state assessments.
Purpose of the Study
 The purpose of this researcher was to investigate the impact of
curricular changes to first-year, high school level Regents examinations
in mathematics on the percentage of student’s passing the
examinations. Between 1999 and 2011, the New York State Education
Department changed the first-year, high school level curriculum in
response to No Child Left Behind and internal Standards Committee
reports. As of 2014, the curriculum will again change to reflect the
newly adopted Common Core State Learning Standards. These
curricular changes have resulted in Regents Examination changes and
realignments that saw the Sequential I Regents examination replaced
by the Math A Regents examination, which was then replaced by the
Integrated Algebra Regents examination. It is possible that these
changes led to a difference in the percentage of students passing the
exam. This empirical study uses a quantitative, quasi-experimental
design to examine the effects of a changing mathematics curriculum
and the overall student performance.
Rationale/Significance
 The rationale for the study was to examine the impact of
curricular changes to the first-year Mathematics Regents
on the percentage of student’s passing the examinations.
Mathematics education has gone through drastic changes
since its inception in 1866. With such a global emphasis on
the need for better understanding and application in the
fields of math and science it is imperative that school
districts are preparing students to thrive in these areas as
best as possible. Districts as well as New York State as a
whole must evaluate the current system in place and make
a determination as to whether or not students are
benefiting from the changes in the curriculum or more
adaptations are needed.
Research Questions
1.
Have changes to the first-year, high school math
curriculum (Sequential I to Math A to Integrated
Algebra) significantly improved the percentage of
students passing the Regents examination?
2. Does the current Integrated Algebra Regents
examination reflect the highest percentage of
students passing when compared to Sequential I and
Math A examinations?
Hypothesis
 It is hypothesized that changes to the type of test given for
the New York State Regents Exam in the area of
mathematics, specifically high school algebra, will
significantly increase the percentage of students achieving
proficiency on standardized assessments in public school
districts of Suffolk County, New York. The independent
variable is the type of New York State Regents exam with
three levels: Sequential I, Math A, and Integrated Algebra.
The dependent variable is operationally defined as the
percentage of students in each district achieving a passing
score of 3 points or greater on a scale of 1-4 for each test
type of the New York State Regents exams.
Review of Literature
 What students should know and be able to do in
mathematics is a critical aspect of the standards
debate. Fueled by international comparisons of
student achievement, such as the Third International
Mathematics and Science Study, national councils and
commissions have agreed that all students should
learn a more challenging math curriculum (National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989; Pendergast,
1989; Riley, 1997).
Review of Literature Cont.
 The New York State Board of Regents, in 1996, decided
to revise their diploma system to realign with the
original intent of high standards for all students. Now
offering only one diploma, all students would be
educated to the same standards and assessed using the
same quality control system (Watson, 2010). The
decision to make the change to one diploma system
helped New York State comply with The No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001 when it was enacted.
Review of Literature Cont.
 The No Child Left Behind Act of 2011 made high stakes
testing a requirement for certain federal funding
(Watson, 2011). In addition, under No Child Left
Behind, Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) was introduced
which intended to measure a schools progress towards
proficiency.
 The New York State’s Regents examinations met the
requirements of No Child Left Behind and further
moved the State toward a standards-based, high stakes
testing accountability system.
Review of Literature Cont.
 State officials created this committee after nearly two-
thirds of students failed the Math A exam in 2003. The
committee found that “high schools lacked a clearly
defined plan of instruction for math education.
Teachers tried to develop classes that would prepare
students for the Math A and B Regents exams, but
content often differed from school to school around
the state” (Saulny, 2005).
Methodology
 Subjects/Participants
 The participants for this study include high school
students enrolled in 9th grade math courses in public
high schools located in Suffolk County, New York in the
years 1999 to 2011.
Methodology
 Procedures
 Data were compiled through the use of the Suffolk County edition
of Data Points (Hughes, 2012). Data Points is a compilation of data
from several areas of the State Education Department and separate
agencies of the New York State Government (Hughes, 2012). The
independent variable is the type of test administered for the New
York State Regents Exam with three levels: Sequential I, Math A,
and Integrated Algebra. Results of the Sequential I Regents were
obtained for the years 1999-2002, results of the Math A Regents
were obtained for the years 2003-2008, and results of the Integrated
Algebra Regents were obtained for the years 2009-2011. The
dependent variable of District Math Achievement is operationally
defined as the percentage of students in each district achieving a
passing score of 3 points or greater on a scale of 1-4 for each test
type of the New York State Regents exams.
Methodology
 Reliability
 The New York State Board of Regents produces a
detailed Technical Report on Reliability and Validity.
Reliability is defined as “the consistency of the scores
obtained- how consistent they are for each individual
from one administration of an instrument to another
and from one set of items to another” (Frankel, Wallen,
& Hyuen, 2012). Reliability coefficients indicate the
estimated reliability of each test item.
Methodology
 Validity
 Validity refers “to the appropriateness, meaningfulness
correctness, and usefulness of the inferences a
researcher makes” (Frankel, Wallen, & Hyuen, 2012).
New York State Regents exams are criterion-based. The
assessments are directly related to the content
standards. This ensures that the New York State Regents
exams demonstrate good content validity. Contentvalidity addresses whether the test adequately samples
the material taught in class (New York State Education
Department, 2009).
Methodology
 Analysis
 Results were analyzed using SPSS software for statistical
analyses Version 20.0. Analyses included conducting a
One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to test
differences among the percentage of students passing
three New York State Regent Exams in Algebra:
Sequential I, Math A and Integrated Algebra. Significant
differences were found among the percentage of
students passing the state assessments and a post-hoc
analysis was conducted using the Scheffee and Tukey
HSD tests.
Results
 A One-Way ANOVA was used to test differences
among the percentage of students passing three New
York State Regent Exams in Algebra: Sequential 1,
Math A and Integrated Algebra. The percentage of
students passing differed significantly across the three
exams, F (2, 170) = 51.039, p = 0.00.
Results
Results
Results
 Scheffe post-hoc comparisons of the three exams indicate
that the percentage of students passing Integrated Algebra
(M = 85.11, SD = 12.16) was significantly higher than
students passing the Math A (M = 78.13, SD = 11.99), p =
0.014 and Sequential 1 exam (M = 60.91, SD = 15.35, 95%
CI), p = 0.00. In addition, Scheffe post-hoc comparisons
indicate that the percentage of students passing Math A
was significantly higher than the percentage of students
passing the Sequential 1 exam p = 0.00. Therefore, the
percentage of students passing the Sequential 1 exam was
significantly lower than the percentage of students passing
the other two exams, p < 0.014. Similar post-hoc
comparisons were also found using Tukey HSD.
Results
Discussion
 There continues to be widespread concern in the
United States about the performance of students on
standardized tests in the area of mathematics. In
particular, the concern focuses on student
performance on various international tests. The
concern is further compounded by Federal laws like
No Child Left Behind (Garfunkel & Mumford, 2011).
 In reviewing curriculum and student performance,
New York State has revised the math curriculum and
made changes to the Regents for first-year, high school
courses in the area of mathematics.
Limitations
 This study is limited to the examination of the
variances between the Regents examinations of
Sequential I mathematics for the years 1999-2002,
Math A for the years 2003-2008, and Integrated
Algebra for the years 2009-2011. The study used
participants from Suffolk County, New York and did
not consider participants from other sections of New
York State.
Future Research Questions
1.
Have the changes to first year math regents courses
had an impact on year two achievement that same
year? Meaning, is there a gap in content from year
one to year two due to the change and has this
affected achievement?
2. How does achievement in New York State compare
with other states that did not make the same
changes?
References
 Darling-Hammond, L. (2006). Standards, assessments,
and educational policy: in pursuit of genuine
accountability. Princeton, N.J.: ETS
 Fraenkel, J. R., Wallen, N., & Hyun H. (2012). How to
design and evaluate research in education. New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill.
 Garfunkel, S. & Mumford, D. (2011, August 24). How to
fix math education. The New York Times.
 Hughes, J. (2012). School district almanac (suffolk
county edition). SCOPE and Connolly-Cormack
Publishers.
References Cont.
 Klein, D. (2003). A brief history of american K-12
mathematics education in the 20th century.
Mathematical Cognition.
 New York State Education Department, Pearson.
(2009). New york state regents examination in
integrated algebra, june 2009 administration: technical
report on reliability and validity. Retrieved from
http://http://www.p12.nysed.gov/assessment/reports/
2009/ia-tr-rv609.pdf
References Cont.
 Pendergast, A. (Eds.). (1989). Everybody counts: A
report to the nation on the future of mathematics
education. Washington, DC: National Research
Council
 Riley, R.W. (1997). Mathematics equals opportunity.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
 Saulny, S. (2005, March 16). State approves new
standards for high school mathematics. The New York
Times.