Excerpt from the NYSED press release on the changing of exam "proficiency" cut off scores:
As a result of raising the bar for what it means to be proficient, many fewer students met or exceeded the new Mathematics and English Proficiency standards in 2010 than in previous years. Across Grades 3-8 statewide, the majority of students, 53% in English and 61% in Math, met or exceeded the new Proficiency standards this year. By contrast, in 2009, 77% of students met or exceeded standards in English and 86% of students did so in Math.
On one hand, this seems to be a necessary step to make statewide assessments more meaningful. If the standards were set improperly it is good to correct them.
At the same time it seems misguided to expect that "raising the bar" will somehow cause improved achievement. How will this more meaningful information be put to use...
Ensuring that student achievement information provides meaningful information about student progress is just one element of the Regents' broader reform agenda. The State Education Department is working to enable educators and parents to make the most of that information - for example, by developing statewide curriculum models aligned with college and career-readiness standards, and by implementing a teacher and principal evaluation system that will provide differentiated professional development.
Oh.
There is a webcast of the July 28 news conference and here is a slide presentation and links to the data.
For your convenience here is pdf version of the assessment data for schools in the Newburgh School District. Of the 95 "Out of district placement" students, only one student on one exam scored at level 3 or 4.
Additional commentary on this topic at NYSSBA, Jerry Moore, EdVANTAGE, and recordonline.