Examining the New York Performance Assessment Consortium

• In Event: If Not Standardized Testing, Then What?

Abstract

In this paper the author describes her work with the The New York Performance Standards Consortium, a group of 36 high schools in New York City (plus two outside of the city, in Rochester and Ithaca NY). Acting under a waiver created in 1995 by NY State Commissioner Thomas Sobol, and extended by unanimous votes of the Board of Regents on four occasions, New York State high schools belonging to the Consortium graduate their students using a system of performance-based assessments in lieu of four of the five required State Regents exams. (Students graduating from Consortium schools must take and pass the ELA with a score of 65). Nearly 30,000 students attend the Consortium’s 38 schools located in New York City, Rochester, and Ithaca, New York.
To be awarded a New York State diploma, all consortium school students must earn the required number of distributed credits (44) and complete a minimum of four PBATs (Performance Based Assessment Tasks):
English: Analytic Essay Literary analysis using text/s of appropriate complexity
Social Studies: Research Paper: Analytical paper, with thesis, argument, accurate evidence, citations
Math: Analysis and solution of a complex math problem that requires application of higher level math
Science: Student-designed and implemented extended science project or original experiment.
Of course, the bottom line for such an approach is whether students are prepared to pursue options following graduation. Do they graduate? Are they prepared for college, civic life, jobs?
The Consortium has a documented record of improving skills. In addition to maintaining a graduation rate that exceeds that of overall New York City public schools, eighty-five percent of Consortium graduates attended colleges rated competitive or better according to Barron's Profiles of American Colleges and persisted in college at rates higher than the national average. Consortium schools serve a higher percentage of African American, Hispanic, ELLs, special needs and low-income students than NYC as a whole and, although students enter Consortium high schools with lower math and English test results than the city-wide average, students graduate at higher rates than do their peers;
Consortium: 4 year grad rate - 80.3%, 6 year grad rate - 84.7%
City: 4 year grad rate - 70.5%, 6 year grad rate - 74.7%
• The 4-year graduation rate for ELL students in Consortium schools was 31% higher than the city average (NYCDOE, 2016).
• Consortium schools have a 6.3% dropout rate compared with the city’s 9.0% (NYCDOE, 2016).
• NYC DOE statistics show that 83.30% of Consortium schools compared to 59.30% of the city’s schools met or exceeded NYCDOE targets for enrollment for college, 18 months after graduation (NYCDOE, 2016).
The Consortium's pool of students includes more students living at the poverty level, a higher percentage of Latinos and English Language Learners, and a higher percentage of students with lower English and math skills than the overall NYC public high school population." (New York Performance Standards Consortium, 2012).
In this paper the author explains how performance standards leads to increased student performance due to more efficient and thoughtful time spent on student learning.

Author

• Ann Cook, New York Performance Standards Consortium