Bronxville, Eastchester & Tuckahoe Schools Face Fewer Testing Dates, New Standards

BRONXVILLE, NY - The 2017-18 school year will include many significant changes in the ways that school districts across the Hudson Valley will deal with state-mandated tests for students.

One of the more noticeable changes, approved in June by the New York State Board of Regents, involves cutting the number of testing dates for the Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) exams in grades 3 through 8, which will drop from three to two.

The shorter schedule, which will take effect next spring, is intended to alleviate teachers’ scoring burdens and to hasten a transition that students will make to computer-based exams, the New York State Department of Education (NYSED) said in a June press release.

The changes to scheduling are being implemented while NYSED also works on a broader overhaul of state testing standards. The department, in the June press release, outlined a four-year timeline for phasing in the standards, called “Next Generation Standards.” The timeline calls for training educators in the new standards over the next three school years, and for the first compliant exams to be given to students by the spring of 2021.

The overhaul of testing standards is also part of a broader measure by NYSED to comply with a federal law called the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ESSA was signed into law in December 2015 by then-President Barack Obama, NYSED notes in a recap.

Under ESSA, NYSED is tasked with preparing and submitting a report to the U.S. Department of Education (USDE), which will detail assessment standards, professional development for teachers and how to help underperforming schools improve. A draft of the plan, which is available here, will be submitted to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his review by Aug. 18, NYSED notes on its website. Approval of the plan by the Board of Regents will be sought in September, according to NYSED, which adds that there is a Sept. 18 deadline to submit it to USDE.

NYSED’s ESSA plan outlines several changes for ELA, Mathematics and Science tests. In the case of ELA, standards within the subject matter will be consolidated, while there will also be an introduction of “culturally responsive practices” intended to help more students improve their communications skills. For Mathematics, changes include standards consolidation and movement of them to different grades. Science changes involve more emphasis on how different scientific disciplines are linked to each other.

Photo: A classroom image taken by Shutterstock