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050704 District error creates test score confusion
BY ABBY LUBY
According to Bedford Central School District's Diane Ramos-Kelly, assistant superintendent for curriculum, a March 28 story in The New York Times reported incorrect Regents scores for Fox Lane High School students in 2002-03. The scores were based on flawed data provided by the district.
The district realized that the wrong withdrawal code - instrumental in determining scores - was assigned to 22 students who had left the school over the course of four years. The error became apparent when the district evaluated the data presented in The Times.
"A lot of people I've spoken to are very concerned about the scores," said Alexis Mayones, co-president of the parent association at Fox Lane Middle School. They think it's a trend, judging from the past year's decline in the scores. Parents would like to see it reversed."
Dr. Ramos-Kelly said inaccuracies in the data on student population contributed to the wrong scores that appeared in the report. Twenty-two students were counted as part of the 1999 class that graduated in 2003. They weren't actually at the school and, didn't take the Regents exams, but they were figured into the final average, lowering the real scores significantly.
The correct test scores had been reported to the state by the district earlier this year in the Comprehensive Information Report (CIR), a different part of the state report card that The New York Times I did not look at in their story. The
scores in the CIR were considerably higher.
"We are a school in good standing," said Dr. Ramos-Kelly at the Bedford Central Board of' Education meeting, held at the high school on Wednesday, April 28. "Our scores are as good as any in the area, and in fact, in many cases the scores exceed other schools in the area."
She presented the correct test scores and compared them with those reported in The New York Times. In English, 92 percent, not 79 percent, passed the Regents. In math, 86 percent passed the Regents, not 78 percent; U.S. History, 93 percent, not 76 percent, passed. Global history saw 96 percent passing, not 86 percent; and in science, 93 percent passed the Regents, not 85 percent.
Also present at the board of education meeting was Fox Lane Principal Stephen Falcone. He said that the district mistakenly kept students on the list after they left the school.,
"For the 1999 class, there were 22 students who had an improper withdrawal code," he said. "Ten percent of students were counted against us. They were registered, but they weren't here," he said. "We are cleaning up the withdrawal codes from 1999 and from other years to be consistent for future reports."
Some parents are concerned about how the administration handled the New York Times report. District parent Deb Benjamin in the district called Dr. Dennis about the New York Times report the next day. "He told me he hadn't even seen the report, but he had heard rumors that there was an error," she said. Dr.
Dennis referred Ms. Benjamin to Dr. Ramos-Kelly.
"She told me that there was a major error in the report, with our numbers being under by' about 10 percent in each subject," Ms. Benjamin said. "I asked if she was going to send a correction to The New York Times, and she said no."
"We don't have a problem letting them [The New York Times] know the scores were incorrect, but this was a data-collection issue that was settling here at the school," Dr. Ramos-Kelly told The Record Review. "Part of it was that data was being extracted incorrectly from one of our systems."
Ms. Benjamin said Dr. Ramos Kelly referred her to the Web site of the New York State Education Department.
"You go online, and the only state report card you can access is four years old," said Ms. Benjamin.
Ms. Benjamin e-mailed Dr. Ramos Kelly three times about her difficulty but said she never got a response.
"Why couldn't she just send me a copy of the report card?" said Ms. Benjamin. "Why is it so secretive? I don't need to be looking at a four-year-old report card."
Middle school co-president Ms. Mayones is hopeful that the district will respond to the issue of declining scores. "I have the utmost confidence in Diane Ramos-Kelly I think she's amazing, but she's also new to the district, and I trust she can turn that around," she said.
Deborah Sherman, parent of a 10th-grader and a fifth-grader, said she was skeptical of the way the district handled the story.
"I read the original article in The New York Times, and to say I was horrified would not be putting it too strongly," she said. "What troubles me is that they reported the numbers wrong. I think that is typical of this district - they don't seem to be able to do anything right the first time."
Reporting a school district's data can be complicated, said Jonathan Burman, spokesman from the state education department.
"Districts are required to verify the information," he said. "A superintendent or one of his designees are required to sign off on any of those data reports verifying the information is in fact correct. We don't accept a district's data until an authorized representative of the district verifies for us that the data is correct."
Dr. Ramos-Kelly said that the district is now in the process of shifting into a new system of data collection known as "power school."
"As we move into the new system and transfer the data, it is a good time for us to make sure all the ducks are lined up," she said.
Ms. Benjamin said her sixth-grade daughter has had a very positive experience at Pound Ridge Elementary School.
"It has been amazing," said Ms. Benjamin. "My daughter loves the school and she wants to go to the middle school and the high school in the worst way. I want to believe that the school is going to be great for my daughter but this issue of the scores' raises some interesting questions for me."