State
will retain Regents exams in January 2011;
other state testing to be eliminated because of budget cuts
The New York State Education Department has decided that it will
not eliminate the administration of Regents exams in January,
2011 -- but will continue with a plan to do away with
assessments in other subject areas this school year because of
state budget cuts.
The following items will be eliminated for the 2010-11 school
year:
•
Grades 5 and 8 social studies exams
•
Grade 8 second language proficiency exams
•
Algebra 2/trigonometry and chemistry Regents exams in
August (January and June testing dates will be retained)
•
Foreign language Regents exams except for Spanish, French and
Italian
•
Component retesting in math and English language Arts
•
Paper-based scoring materials for Regents exams (all scoring
materials and answer keys will be posted to the State Education
Department’s website, and schools will be responsible for
downloading and printing them prior to scoring)
In June, the Board of Regents had considered a number of
cost-cutting measures to make up for an anticipated deficit of
approximately $11.5 million in available funding for 2010-11 for
P-12 programs, and a projected $21 million deficit for 2011-12.
One of those measures included eliminating all Regents exams
that would have been administered in January 2011. While Regents
exams are most typically taken by New York's public high school
students in June, many take them in January and August.
After the state budget was adopted in August, the State
Education Department received notice that the legislative and
executive budgets restored some education funding, saving the
January Regents exams as well as a the June 2011 Italian
Regents.
"While this is good news, it is important to keep in mind that
this applies to the 2011 administration of Regents exams only,"
said John B. King, Jr., the state's senior deputy commissioner
for P-12 education. "That is, unless alternative funding sources
can be identified in the very near future, the Regents will need
to consider further deficit reduction actions in the fall.
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