In an attempt to placate and undercut the opt out movement this spring, New York Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia promised significant changes in the tests.
Testing expert Fred Smith says the promised changes are insignificant, in fact, “illusory.”
Although the state has dropped Pearson and hired a new test vendor named Questar, Pearson is still in charge of the 2016 tests.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Unlimited time is turning into a major headache in our school. We are a junior high with 8th and 9th grades. Only the 8th graders take the BS tests, but it disrupts the entire school schedule to accommodate the testing times.
Rather than let the 8th graders stay in their classrooms and follow the test schedule while the 9th graders follow the bell schedule everyone has to follow the test.
Result. My first block class for 6 testing days will be reduced down to 20 minutes out of a usual 80 minute block. Just 6 weeks before their Regents exam one of my classes is essentially losing 6 classes. Of course another section will have class for over two hours with me.
I’ve actually gone so far as to compare the test scores in previous years of that section to my other sections. They are lower. The district simply says the 8th grade exams are more important because the district’s effectiveness is assessed on them, while students performance on the Earth Science Regents only affects the assessment of MY effectiveness.
Of course, I’m not the only 9th grade teacher affected by this, and now with unlimited time allowed, the impact of the testing schedule will be amplified. This nonsense has to stop. I actually understand the district’s position, but it’s still wrong.
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“I actually understand the district’s position, but it’s still wrong.”
Well, considering districts are run by adminimals why wouldn’t what they dictate be wrong??
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True. Dictators ARE just that: dictators. The system must fail.
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Sounds like they’re writing your lawsuit.
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Also the earth science regent score appears on the student’s transcript.
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I went to mandated training for regional grading for the “new” version of the test ELA NYS Assessment. The materials were from 2013. I had already been trained in the past using the exact t same materials. Nothing new. When teachers asked the trainers for specific information regarding the changes in the test, the trainers had no information. You are exactly right. The changes are a sham.
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Now my English Language Learners who have been here for a little more than a year can sit for an unlimited amount of time trying to decipher a test they shouldn’t be taking in the first place. Those with “grit” will try for hours. What a waste of humanity. My suggestion to all of the parents – opt out and stop giving money to Pearson or Questar or whatever BS conglomerate NY decides to waste our educational money on. Maybe then we can divert this money to lower class sizes. How’s that for a thought?
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My ELL students were tested so often and so unpredictably, it soon became simply a game of mental endurance. Each year’s new “reformers” would add rule upon rule, making the whole experience into torture. Our nation’s poorest children have been so terribly, terribly abused. ciedieaech.wordpress.com DON’T DO ME THAT
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Here are the changes Tennessee offers for parents concerned about tests
https://stateoftennessee.formstack.com/forms/untitled_form_256
For example
1. In the past, we used four performance level descriptors to signify how students performed relative to grade-level expectations: : advanced, proficient, basic, and below basic.
As we develop new reports, we want to also develop more informative and helpful descriptors for families. Which set of words in your mind best describes if students are meeting or exceeding grade-level/course expectations based on our state standards?
Pick one set of student performance level descriptors*
a. Distinguished, Accomplished, Emerging, Novice
b. Highly prepared, Prepared, Marginally prepared, Unprepared
c. Exceptional Readiness, Demonstrated Readiness, Approaching Readiness, Minimal Readiness
d. Above Grade-level, On Grade-level, Approaching Grade-level, Below Grade-level
Other:
and to make this even more effective in addressing our concerns with standardized tests, each choice is accompanied by a colorful picture—each of different style. For example
but, as a particularly concerned parent, I calmed myself down with this one
It uses my favorite colors, and it’s only drawback is that I can only suspect that the language used is English.
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All teachers who have a SLO based on New York State Regents exams are NOT covered by the moratorium on use of 3-8 NYS Assessments and NYS-provided growth scores for use in the calculation of teacher and principal APPR scores. So, please, let’s stop saying that there is a moratorium on the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers in NYS.
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Based on what I have read, these NYS tweaking of tests are a farce & obviously simply a bone to throw to potential Opt-Outers. So, they cut each section by 1/3, so what? if you cut the timed test by 1/3, how does that change the teach-to-the-test paradigm? At present, judging from all I’ve read, content-teaching stops around Jan & teach-to-the-spring-tests begins.
1. These are high-stakes tests. It makes no difference that NYS postpones the stake a few yrs, the test scores are still on the books & can be used later to create a profile of test scores by which to grade teachers (& threaten their livelihoods) & schools (& threaten their existence.)
2. How would cutting the no of questions change the current paradigm where new content-teaching ceases in Jan so as to focus on upcoming Spring tests? The categories tested remain the same, the only difference is that fewer questions are asked in each category. If anything, this increases the need for test-prep.
3. And now we increase access to untimed tests. I can tell you as the mom of 2 (out of 3) ’90’s IEP kids granted untimed-testing accommodations: all this does in most cases is prolong the agony. The idea is well-intentioned– all they need is more time– but it does not adequately address the issue that IEP kids may in fact be better able to demonstrate their intelligence thro projects, performances, term-papers etc.
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