Now the Regents Math Test Is Criticized as Too Easy
By ELISSA GOOTMAN

Last year, the New York State Education Department faced a storm of criticism from educators who said too few students had passed the Math A Regents examination. Now the department seems to have the opposite problem.

Some math teachers and administrators are complaining that the department's scoring chart for its most recent exam, offered last month, is overly forgiving, and that passing scores are being doled out to students who have not mastered the material. To pass the test, which is required for high school graduation, students had to earn 28 out of 84 points. To pass with a grade high enough to earn the more coveted Regents diploma, students had to score 37 points.

"To score one-third of the points allotted on the test, in my judgment, does not show proper mastery of the content or of the standards," said Alfred S. Posamentier, dean of the School of Education at the City College of New York. "It appears that the passing grade was too low. If that is so, then we are causing more damage than good, because you're allowing kids to pass a course who are not prepared to go on into the next math course."

Last summer, educators complained that the Math A exam was confusing and too difficult. In response, the state education commissioner, Richard P. Mills, with the Board of Regents, appointed a panel to examine the test. (Dean Posamentier served on the panel.) Heeding the panel's recommendations, education officials created a new test with more multiple-choice questions and fewer open-ended questions.

But when the state released its scoring chart a few days ago, some teachers were shocked to discover that students they thought should have failed the test had, in fact, passed. While schools are not obliged to giving passing course grades to students who pass Regents tests, teachers say it can be difficult convincing students who have passed a test that they need to repeat a class.

"It's almost setting up a scenario where the kids don't seem to feel that standards are standards," said Michael Steger, a math teacher at Oceanside High School on Long Island. "I'm very concerned."