‘Point shaving’ on Regents math test

It’s a tough test — but not so tough to pass.

New York high-schoolers who took the Regents Common Core Algebra I exam this month had to earn just 27 of 86 points, or 31.4 percent, to pass. On the Regents grading scale, that gives them a minimum passing score of 65.

The required number of right answers remains at its lowest level since the exam — which kids must pass to graduate — was introduced three years ago, records show.

In a tinkering aimed at raising the overall pass rate, the state Education Department has gradually lowered the raw points required for a passing 65 grade. In August 2014, it took 31 points, or 36 percent. Last year’s cutoff was 30 points, or 34.9 percent.

As a result, 72 percent of students statewide passed the exam last year, back to the pre-Common Core level in the 2013-2014 school year. The pass rate had plunged to 63 percent in 2014-2015, when the harder exam was launched.

In New York City, the cutoff fiddling raised the overall passing rate by 10 percentage points, from 52 percent to 62.1 percent last year.

Education experts said the tweaking raises questions.

“If you’re giving a kid a diploma based on a Regents score, does that pass mean that the kid has sufficient math skills?” asked Kim Nauer, education research director at The New School’s Center for New York City Affairs.

The math exam demands complex problem-solving. A 65 score is a Level 3 — defined as “partially meeting Common Core expecta- tions” but enough for a Regents diploma. Levels 4 and 5 are defined as meeting and exceeding standards.

Aaron Pallas, chair of education policy and social analysis at Columbia’s Teachers College, said the threshold for passing should get higher as math skills sharpen.

“Kids should be doing better,” he said. “It should require a higher score to be proficient, but that’s not yet what we’re seeing. It’s going the other way, which is puzzling.”

Setting standards is a “political” decision, Pallas noted. Officials want a challenging test but a scoring system that doesn’t knock down the graduation rate — and outrage parents.

Bob Schaeffer, public-education director for the national watchdog FairTest, said, “If the test’s difficulty has remained constant from year to year, then it certainly looks like passing the Algebra I exam became easier.” That’s not unusual, he added. “Cutoff scores have been manipulated to produce politically desirable results in many jurisdictions,” Schaeffer said.

But David Rubel, a consultant to city parochial schools that award Regents diplomas, foresees a crisis.

Last year, 11,340 more students failed Regents Algebra exams than in 2014, he found. Meanwhile, the number of students who failed eighth-grade state math exams has tripled from 14,000 in 2012 to 44,483 since Common Core exams in grades 3 to 8 were introduced.

“I think you have a storm warning,” Rubel said. “That’s a huge number of kids not on track to graduate.”