In June 2003 the Board of Regents, on the recommendation of Commissioner Mills, named a panel of leading mathematicians, educators, college professors and other experts with a wide range of experiences to evaluate the June 2003 Mathematics A Regents Examination. The panel was charged with addressing a series of questions aimed at determining what happened with that administration of the Mathematics A test and why.

Today the panel’s report was presented to the Board of Regents.  The report makes a number of recommendations that the Board has agreed to accept.  We will be contacting you over the next few weeks about these recommendations and our implementation plan in greater detail, but I am sending this memo today to provide you with as much notice as possible about a change that will take place for the January 2004 administration of the exam. 

The panel recommended a number of changes in the mathematics standards and the Mathematics A Exam, e.g. a restructuring of the examination so that “the typical student will take the Mathematics A exam after one year of high school mathematics.”  They also recommended that, until those long-term changes are made, by June 2006, the Mathematics A examination be reconfigured as follows, beginning with the January 2004 administration:

This reformatting of the examination results in changes in the test specifications that we provided to schools in the Spring 1998 Test Sampler Draft.  Attachment A provides a comparison between the revised test specifications and those currently in effect.  We do not believe that this reformatting should require significant changes in instruction or test preparation, since the content covered by the assessment remains the same. 

As we move forward to implement the other recommendations of the Mathematics A panel, we will keep you informed.  If you have any questions about this memo or the January 2004 Mathematics A Regents Examination, you may send them to emscassessinfo@mail.nysed.gov .  A recent press release on this and other policy decisions, and Commissioner Mills’ report to the Board of Regents can be accessed at http://www.oms.nysed.gov/press/testing_policy.htm  Within the next few days the complete panel report will be available at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/

Enclosure

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ATTACHMENT A

Mathematics A Regents Examination Specifications

Revised Fall 2003

About 55% of the assessment will either be a real-world application or be given in a contextual setting.

*The percents indicated are in terms of the total number of points available on the test

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Mathematics A Regents Examination Specifications

Issued Spring 1998

Appendix of Mathematics A Regents Examination Test Sampler Draft Spring 1998

Between 50-60% of the assessment will either be a real-world application or be given in a contextual setting.

*The percents indicated are in terms of the total number of points available on the test