• Related story: SED releases June 2008 Regents exam schedule

The State Education Department (SED) has listened to NYSUT and other groups, and has agreed to add a half day to the June 2008 Regents examination schedule and to change the administration of the Integrated Algebra Regents to the morning of Tuesday, June 17. The exam was originally scheduled on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 17.

We believe that this change helps our students, especially students with disabilities who require extended test time, and our teachers who must administer and score this examination. The exam includes nine open-ended questions on parts 2, 3, and 4 that must be scored by committee, and packaged by June 18 for shipping to Pearson Educational Measurement. Our members have informed us that they need the time to make sure the exams are scored correctly and to ensure that they make the UPS pick-up time the following day. The change also benefits the State Education Department staff by giving more time to complete the post-operational scoring process. SED has assured the conversion chart for determining each student’s final examination scale score from the total raw score will be posted no later than rating day, Thursday, June 26.

NYSUT is pleased with SED's timely response in resolving this matter. We believe that this change will limit scoring errors in what many view as a critical test in the first year administration of the Integrated Algebra examination.