THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234   SENIOR DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION – P-16 Office of Elementary, Middle, Secondary and Continuing Education Office of Higher Education

                                                                                                            November 2007

TO:                 District Superintendents
                        Superintendents of Schools
                        Commissioner’s Advisory Council of Nonpublic Schools
                        High School and Middle School Principals
                        Other Partners

FROM:           Johanna Duncan-Poitier

SUBJECT:     June 2008 Regents Examination Schedule

A number of you have recently contacted us to request that the administration of the new Regents Examination in Integrated Algebra take place on the first morning of the June testing period. Several of you were concerned that since this is the first time that the Integrated Algebra Exam will be given, if the June examination schedule is too tight, you may not have enough time to accurately score the exams and submit the scored answer sheets.  We have listened to your feedback and to address your concerns, we will be administering this examination on the morning of Tuesday, June 17, 2008.  This is reflected in the attached June 2008 Regents Examination schedule.

This will be the only State examination administered that morning. This additional half day of testing in the June examination period will aid in the implementation, standard setting and subsequent examination score validation studies associated with the implementation of the three new Regents Examinations in mathematics being phased in, one new examination per year, over this current and the next two school years. The Department will not be adding any extra time beyond this additional half day of testing to either the June 2009 or June 2010 examination periods as the new Regents Examinations in Geometry and Algebra 2/Trigonometry are phased in. It is our intention that the first time each of these examinations is administered it will be on the first day of that testing session.

All schools administering the Regents Examination in Integrated Algebra in June 2008 will be participating in a post-operational score collection for standard setting this examination. Schools will ship their scored answer sheets to the Department’s contractor for score collection and standard setting by handing them to their UPS delivery person on Wednesday, June 18, 2008. Administering the Regents Examination in Integrated Algebra on Tuesday morning will help to facilitate the prompt submission by schools of their scored answer sheets for the score collection. With the cooperation of all schools, the Department will be able to post the conversion chart for Integrated Algebra on its web site by the Rating Day, Thursday, June 26, as schools have requested. A memorandum detailing the procedures necessary for the administration and scoring of this June 2008 examination will be provided to school administrators later this fall.

Please note that an additional scheduling option is available for any high school student whose Individualized Education Program or Section 504 Accommodation Plan requires extended time as a testing accommodation and who is scheduled to take an RCT on the same day as another State examination. To address this concern, the school may reschedule an RCT to the next available school day during the same test administration period on which this student has no other State examinations scheduled. This option is not permitted for Regents Examinations. The administration of all Regents Examinations must occur on the date indicated on the official schedule distributed by the Office of State Assessment.

Please refer to the memorandum A New Scheduling Option Available to Schools Administering State Examinations to High School Students with Disabilities - Effective January 2004 for detailed instructions that schools must strictly observe to reschedule an RCT to the next available school day. This memorandum may be accessed at:
http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/publications/policy/rct1003.htm

For questions about this scheduling option or about a student’s eligibility for the RCT Safety Net, you may contact VESID’s Special Education Policy Unit at 518-473-2878.

Thank you for your important feedback and for your help in developing an examination schedule that, to the extent possible, minimizes conflicts for students, expedites score turn-around time, and is sensitive to the demands of the testing process on students, teachers, and other school leaders. 

c:   

Richard P. Mills
Jean C. Stevens
David Abrams