COMPONENT RETESTING
The West Irondequoit Central PTSA is sponsoring a resolution that will be brought forth at the NYS PTA convention in November. The resolution, entitled 'Restructuring the Regents Component Retesting system to Better Serve Students Who Experience Failure' is intended to give those students who struggle with regents exams a better chance at being successful and achieving a Regents diploma. It is our belief that retesting should be done in a timely fashion and as part of the ongoing assessment of current learning. We hope that we can urge the State Education Department to restructure the way it implements component retesting to fulfill the state's pledge to offer student's practical opportunities to meet the learning standards when failures have occurred.
What are Regents exams? Regents exams are state tests that assess student mastery of the state standards. Students must earn a grade of 65% or better (some students with disabilities may pass with a lower score) on the exam in order to pass the exam and must pass 5 Regents exams to earn a Regents diploma; 8 Regents exams to earn a Regents diploma with Advanced Designation. Some exams cover multiple years of study, for example students typically sit for a six hour English Language Arts exam after their junior year.
What happens when failure occurs? A student must fail a regents exam twice before they are able to take a component retest (or they can take the full regents exam a third time). These retests occur over a time span of 2 -- 16 months (depending on the subject), and is typically after the student has completed the coursework for the exam. In some cases this process may affect the courses that a student selects for the subsequent school year.
What is component retesting? Component retesting was implemented in 2001. The goal of the plan was to allow students who fail an exam another opportunity to demonstrate mastery of the missed material. If retesting was available for all required exams, and was done in a timely manner, students would have: - a better chance to stay on track for graduation with their classmates - increased opportunities to graduate with a Regents graduation diploma w/advanced designation
What does the recommended restructuring include?
- Offer component retesting as part of the Regents examination periods in January, June and August and allow schools districts to order retests as part of their Regents exam order. Currently retests are only offered in May.
- Replace the Math A component retest, and re-align to the upcoming new state sequence by offering component retests in both algebra and geometry.
- Align the format of the retests with the format of the Regents exams. Permit students to retest in specific components of the Regents exam when failures occur (one of the four essays on the ELA, Part II of Math A, the document-based essay in social studies, etc.).
- Allow any student who scores at least 55% on a Regents exam to take a component retest without having to take the Regents exam a second time. Currently students must fail a Regents exam twice before they are eligible for the retest.
- Allow students who fail a Regents exam twice to take a component retest regardless of their scores on the Regents exam.
- Develop component retests in all curricular areas where Regents examinations are offered. Component retesting is currently only offered in the areas of English Language Arts and math.
- Allow all students, regardless of grade level, to sit for a component retest. Currently only seniors may sit for the English Language Arts retest and only juniors and seniors are eligible for the Math A retest.
This recommendation is supported by the WICSD Board of Education, and they have offered to participate in a pilot program to explore the impact these changes would have on student success.
If you would like to read more about this topic, please go to the West Irondequoit school district website (westirondequoit.org) and click on 'district', then 'board of education'. There you will find a category titled 'Advocacy -- component retesting' which has more information. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to send them to our email address WICPTA@yahoo.com.