成人抖阴

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My daughter finished her first year of in June. She received A鈥檚 in all of her subjects. She also took state Regents exams in two of them. New York state public school students must 鈥� one in English, one in math, one in science, one in social studies and a fifth one of the student’s choice 鈥� to graduate. 

My daughter passed both Regents. A score of 65 is all that鈥檚 necessary, and the results are curved so that sometimes, all you need to pass is to answer of the questions correctly. A score of 85 and above indicates 鈥渕astery,鈥� which some New York City and state colleges require for admission. My straight-A-student daughter received the 鈥渕astery鈥� designation on only one of her Regents. (I have her permission to share this information.)

My daughter isn鈥檛 alone in this disconnect: top grades when evaluated by teachers but test scores that suggest a student hasn鈥檛 fully mastered the material.

Since the , tens of thousands of New York City students have passed their classes and gotten promoted while failing their state tests. It was true in . It was true in , when some schools with 92% of students logging A and B grade point averages had not one judged proficient on the state tests. And it was true in , the last year the Regents were administered before they were for two years due to the pandemic.

Not surprisingly, when the exams were on hold, New York state high school graduation rates shot upward. In , the 2019 graduation rate was 65%. By 2020, it had increased to 76%, and in 2021, it was 79%.

More students certainly received a high school diploma. But were they prepared for college work or a career?

This is hardly a new question, and it definitely isn鈥檛 limited to New York and its Regents exams. 

In his 2018 book, President Barack Obama鈥檚 secretary of education, Arne Duncan, exposed the problem with from his time in Chicago:

Calvin Williams, a rising high school senior on the B honor roll, could read and write at a second- or third-grade level. 鈥� The most insidious part of the whole thing was that he didn鈥檛 know what he didn鈥檛 know. 鈥� Perhaps worse still, the school and his teachers also didn鈥檛 know that Calvin was so far behind. As far as they were concerned, Calvin was an actual B student.

The big lies are the ones that the system tells to parents about how their kids are learning.

68% of community college students and 40% of public four-year college students take at least one high school-level class because they鈥檙e not ready for college coursework. 

Simple stuff like basic algebra or subject-verb agreement need to be 鈥渞emediated鈥� for these students because they鈥檙e unprepared. Even some kids who graduate with honors or with GPAs above 4.0 aren鈥檛 ready 鈥� because the system lied to them. 鈥� Kids who think they鈥檙e doing very well at the end of middle school are wrong. They鈥檙e not ready for high school 鈥� not even close.

My daughter is my third child to go through the public school system. I have sat in more than one conference where a teacher explained: We don鈥檛 have time to cover all the material that鈥檚 included on the state exams/Regents/Advanced Placement tests. And when I asked students at some of the city鈥檚 top high schools about the preparation they received, I received answers that included:

The teacher flat out told us we wouldn鈥檛 get everything we needed from taking notes in class and doing the reading鈥�.

Whether it would be a math class where we were given the textbook and taught how to do the first part of a question in class, but had to teach ourselves the rest at home, or social studies tests that had more material that was covered out of class than in class鈥�. There were plenty of times where we had to learn ourselves. 

She said she didn鈥檛 have time to teach everything that was required for the course, so she wasn鈥檛 going to, we鈥檇 have to do it ourselves if we wanted to do well on the AP exam鈥�.

But the bigger question here, whether we鈥檙e talking about New York City, New York State, Chicago or the whole of America 鈥� where, according to a , only 37% of students are prepared for college-level math and reading 鈥� is whom should we believe when it comes to how our children are doing. Is it the classroom teachers who insist they know the kids best and that their day-to-day observations trump any exam administered once a year? Or a test given to all students in the same grade in order to assess how they compare to one another and to state standards?

I tend to lean toward the latter. It鈥檚 why, when selecting high schools for my children, I paid no attention to graduation rates and, instead, focused on college-readiness numbers. That felt less subjective, and thus more legitimate.

If it truly is the case that there isn鈥檛 enough time to cover all the topics tested in state assessments, Regents or AP exams in a given academic year, then either rewrite the tests to better line up with the curriculum or rewrite the curriculum to better line up with the assessments.

While it鈥檚 reasonable to receive a 92 in class and, say, an 85 on a standardized test 鈥� in-class work could include participation, extra credit, hands-on projects and more 鈥� it should raise red flags when a student gets a report card grade of 95 and a Regents score so low that a student can’t graduate.

Over a decade ago, Duncan worried about the lies families were being fed about how well their children were performing academically. Looking at my daughter鈥檚 Regents scores, I worry that I am now one of those families. And I worry even more about the families who don鈥檛 know that they should be worrying. They鈥檝e been told that standardized tests don鈥檛 matter, that it might even be best to just . 

But those scores are a second opinion of sorts. They either confirm the teacher鈥檚 view of your child, or they should at least inspire parents to look closer. Teachers watch our kids, but we parents should be watching the teachers. And standardized tests are just one of the tools available to us.

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