April 2011 Division of Academics, Performance and Support Office of Assessment High School Testing – Scoring Best Practices May 24, 2011 CFN 201

Begin the Scoring Process  Keep papers secure at all times.  Prior to scoring administrators must familiarize themselves with proper scoring procedures found in the applicable SED Information Booklet for Scoring and Directions for Administering and Scoring..  Download and print rating guides and anchor papers from the SED website. Paper copies will no longer be provided.  Organize teams of raters to score the Regents and RCTs. No paper may be scored by only one person. If possible, raters should not score their own students.  Schools with small staffs should join with other schools to meet SED requirements for scoring.  Distribute scoring materials to all members of the rating team.

Training the Raters  Conduct Professional Development sessions for teachers and administrators responsible for scoring Regents exams using the procedures and materials described in the applicable Information Booklet for Scoring and Directions for Administering and Scoring. See NYSED for updated information  Ensure that all Regents grading staff are trained prior to scoring Regents exams according to the respective subject area rubric, which is followed during the scoring of all Regents exams.  Pair experienced teachers with teachers that are new to the scoring process.  Scoring must not proceed unless all members are clear about the process.

Scoring continued  Begin scoring student papers when raters are clear on how to score each question.  Assign experienced raters to randomly review scored papers.  Retrain scorers who may not be clear about rubrics.  Check the SED website before and during scoring for clarifications and/or corrections.

Scoring  Teachers must rate strictly according to the key provided by the Department. They may allow credit for other answers to open-ended questions only if those answers are clearly equivalent to the key answer.  Schools must obtain permission from the Department before students can be given credit for any answer that is not clearly equivalent to the key answer. A teacher may not give credit for answers that the teacher considers merely “possible” or “reasonable.”  Rating support can be found on the NYSED website or by calling (518) or (518)  At the conclusion of scoring raters must sign the Examination Scoring Certificate.

Integrity of Scores  As of 5/24/11 there is NO Re-Scoring of any exam, including ALL Math and Science exams even with a score of  The revised Regents policy will be reflected in the NYSED Directions for Administering Regents Examinations, June 2011 Administration, and in the rating guides as soon as they are available.  Scrubbing is rescoring selected student papers after a final score has been reached using the approved rating process.  Scrubbing is illegal and can result in administrators and teachers being disciplined or fired!

General Scoring Directions: Science  The multiple choice section for Earth Science and Living Environment will no longer be hand-scored.  As of 5/24/11 there is NO Re-Scoring of any exam, including ALL Science exams even with a score of  It is the responsibility of the school principal to ensure that the student’s final examination score is based on a fair, accurate, and reliable scoring of the student’s answer paper.  See NYSED for updated information

General Scoring Directions: Mathematics  The multiple choice section of the Integrated Algebra Regents will no longer be hand-scored  The math Regents examinations are to be scored by committees of mathematics teachers. No one teacher is to score more than approximately one third of the open-ended questions on a student’s paper. The committee must be comprised of at least three teachers.  As of 5/24/11 there is NO Re-Scoring of any exam, including ALL Math exams even with a score of  It is the responsibility of the school principal to ensure that the student’s final examination score is based on a fair, accurate, and reliable scoring of the student’s answer paper.  See NYSED for updated information

General Scoring Directions: English and Social Studies  The multiple choice section of the English, Global History and Geography and United States History and Government will no longer be hand-scored.  When actual rating begins, each rater should record his or her individual rating for a student’s short constructed responses and essay on the rating sheets provided, not directly on the student’s essay or answer sheet. Do not correct the student’s work by making insertions or changes of any kind.  Each essay must be rated by at least two raters; a third rater will be necessary to resolve scores that differ by more than one point. The scoring coordinator will be responsible for coordinating the movement of papers, calculating a final score for each student’s essay, and recording that information on the student’s answer paper.  See NYSED for updated information

Regents Scanning - Sample Answer Documents 10 Current SED Ans. Doc New NYC Scannable Ans. Doc