ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
New York City
Wednesday
October 15, 2003
9:00 A.M.
250 Broadway, New York, NY
Assembly Hearing Room 1923, 19th Floor
Albany
Wednesday
October 22, 2003
9:00 A.M.
Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY
Roosevelt Hearing Room C, 2nd Floor
* Joint Hearing with the Senate Education Committee
Rochester
Thursday
October 23, 2003
10:30 A.M.
Rochester City Hall
30 Church Street, Rochester, NY
City Council Chambers Room 302-A
These hearings are being conducted in a cooperative manner between the Assembly and Senate. The two respective Education Committees will coordinate their separate hearing dates to maximize public input.
The Board of Regents has implemented a standardized testing process for all high school students to graduate with a diploma. This policy currently requires high school students to receive a passing grade on five different Regents exams. Students who entered the 9th grade in 2000 are required to get a passing score of 55 on two of the Regents exams and a 65 on the 3 other Regents exams. Students entering 9th grade on or after September 2001 will be required to obtain a 65 passing grade on each of the five exams.
This high stakes assessment structure replaced a dual-track system whereby students could either obtain a Regents Diploma by passing a series of Regents exams or obtain a local district diploma via standards set by the local school district, which included locally developed testing instruments.
Problems associated with recent Regents exams have caused concerns about the policy of high stakes exams to resurface and have led to a broader discussion about the sufficiency of this policy. Furthermore, concerns about the accuracy of the tests and their alignment to curriculum have been expressed. Others have questioned whether the escalating dropout rate may correlate with the implementation of this testing policy. This hearing will examine these issues and give the public the opportunity to comment or raise additional concerns.
Persons wishing to present pertinent testimony to the Committee at the above hearing should complete and return the enclosed reply form as soon as possible. It is important that the reply form be fully completed and returned so that persons may be notified in the event of emergency postponement or cancellation.
Oral testimony will be limited to 10 minutes' duration. In preparing the order of witnesses, the Committee will attempt to accommodate individual requests to speak at particular times in view of special circumstances. These requests should be made on the attached reply form or communicated to Committee staff as early as possible.
Ten copies of any prepared testimony should be submitted at the hearing registration desk. The Committee would appreciate advance receipt of prepared statements.
In order to further publicize these hearings, please inform interested parties and organizations of the Committee's interest in hearing testimony from all sources.
In order to meet the needs of those who may have a disability, the Assembly, in accordance with its policy of non-discrimination on the basis of disability, as well as the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), has made its facilities and services available to all individuals with disabilities. For individuals with disabilities, accommodations will be provided, upon reasonable request, to afford such individuals access and admission to Assembly facilities and activities.
Steven Sanders
Member of Assembly
Chairman
Committee on Education
