The State Education Department has posted this clarification on why the first administration of the ELA Regents examination is scheduled for January 11, 2011.
As with the new mathematics Regents exams, time must be built in for scoring and standard setting the ELA Regents exam in order to have the conversion chart available by the end of the January testing cycle.
Jan. 11, 2011 will be counted for meeting the 180 day requirement for calculation of state aid and allocations. If a district finds it necessary that in order to properly administer the ELA Regents exam, they may excuse students located in the same building who are not taking the exam.
SED will be posting a more detailed memo regarding scoring within the next few weeks. This memo will be posted on the NYSUT Web site.