The tight schedule for administering the first-ever Regents Examination in Integrated Algebra this June will put teachers to the test, too. A memorandum providing details on the logistics and procedures required for the scoring and standard-setting project established for the inaugural exam can be found at www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/mathre/iaplm-08.htm.

Responding to NYSUT and other groups, the State Education Department agreed to add a half-day to the June 2008 Regents exam schedule and to change the administration of the Integrated Algebra Regents to the morning of Tuesday, June 17. The exam was originally scheduled for that afternoon.

But even after pushing the exam a day earlier, the schedule will be tight for teachers who must score the exams and ship results by June 18 to Pearson Educational Measurement for post-operational scoring and standard-setting.

"With the cooperation of all schools, the department will be able to post the conversion chart for the exam on its Web site by the Rating Day, Thursday, June 26," said David Abrams, assistant education commissioner in a memo to school leaders. The memo notes that all schools must make a graphing calculator available for the exclusive use of each student during the exam.

As part of the score collection process, schools will be required to score the examination, make a school record of the total raw score earned by each student, make a photocopy of each scored answer sheet for school retention and ship the scored original answer sheet to Pearson. SED is recommending that once the conversion chart is posted, all student answer papers receiving a scale score of 60 to 64 be scored a second time to ensure accuracy.

Teachers of subjects other than math may score the multiple-choice questions and tabulate students' total raw scores. This will enable math teachers to focus on scoring the students' constructed responses, Abrams said. The new exam includes nine open-ended questions on parts 2, 3 and 4 that must be scored.

- Sylvia Saunders