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Westhampton Beach School District's board of education listens to parents and students voice concerns over the 20 percent weight the grade of a Regents exam has a student's overall average for that course.
Students and parents in the Westhampton Beach School District pleaded with administration and the Board of Education Monday night, June 27, to consider a “do no harm” policy, or to lessen the weight a Regents exam score has on a student’s overall average.
Currently, Regents and final exams each make up 20 percent of a student’s overall grade for a given course. Those in attendance during the June 27 meeting stressed that multiple neighboring districts have varying policies, but Westhampton Beach’s policy puts district students at a “significant disadvantage.”
Southampton, Hampton Bays, Center Moriches, William Floyd and Longwood school districts are some of the many on Long Island that have adopted the “do no harm” policy as it pertains to Regents: A score becomes conditionally applied, meaning it is not included in a student’s final course grade if it negatively affects his or her average. In some cases, other districts have altered Regents exams to be 5 or 10 percent of a student’s final grade for that class.
“Students are required to provide their GPAs on all school applications and athletic recruiting questionnaires, and colleges and universities will not have the background information required to make informed decisions when they look at two different applicants fighting for one roster spot or one Merit scholarship,” said Nicole Schindler, a mother of three and an educator in the district. “They’re awarded to students with higher GPAs.”
Schindler’s daughter, Kenzie, a sophomore multi-sport athlete who stated she’s a principal’s honor roll student — earning a 95 percent cumulative average for all courses graded — said after taking three Regents exams this spring, her average in those classes went down six, three and two points, respectively.
“This is especially devastating when you as a district have the choice to decide to use the Regents score or not,” she said. “These exams have placed an unbelievable amount of stress on me. My friends from other schools have an advantage over me. I am very hardworking, and I feel that it is extremely unfair that one three-hour exam significantly impacts my GPA, when that is not an accurate representation of the student I am.”
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Carolyn Probst said the district is “reluctant” to make any changes until the data from this year’s exams is reviewed.
“Regents exam results are still being processed. It’s something we’re still analyzing,” she said. “Rather than making a decision before we had all the information, it’s something we wanted to look at. We still have the ability to make a decision, and make that retroactive.”
Parent Amy Mosher — her daughter Madison Mosher just graduated, and her other daughter, Chloe Mosher, is a rising junior — agreed with Kenzie Schindler, pointing out that students in Center Moriches and Westhampton Beach who have the exact same class grades and Regents scores will not look like they performed the same or receive the same scholarship money because of the weight placed on a Regents at Westhampton Beach.
Seeing how the exams hurt her daughter Chloe, whom she said is a “very good student with her academic strengths and weaknesses, but who has very good grades,” she questioned what the tests do for students struggling in the classroom.
She also wondered the opposite — if the grades positively impacted the students at the top of the class. So, she reached out to Class of 2022 salutatorian Madison Quinn, who told the parent she could quote her response at the meeting.
“I’m very lucky that I did not have to take any Regents this year. However, if I did, having it included as 20 percent of my average would most likely hurt my overall average,” Quinn said in her response. “I have an overall grade of 98 to 100 in every single one of my classes, so, basically, unless I get a perfect score of 100 on my Regents, having it included in my overall average would bring it down. Because the grades I have are so high, the only way it would help is if I got a perfect Regents score, which is really, really, really hard to do.”
“I do truly believe that every single one of you has the best intentions for all of our students, so I’m really, really struggling to understand why Westhampton Beach did not implement the ‘do no harm’ policy,” Mosher said. “I’m trying to figure out — who does it help? We want a policy that helps support our students.”
Board President Suzanne Mensch, who is the mother of a 10th-grader and a college-age student who went through the district, said while she “absolutely” wants to look at the data and discuss the value of the weight placed on Regents and final exams, she isn’t choosing to take one stance or another just yet. She said she sees significance in taking final exams seriously.
“There is a concern that if you devalue the exam, how do the students properly prepare? That’s a factor we have to continue to think about, because when they enter college, the number of grades and opportunities for grades through coursework and exams is so much less than in a high school classroom,” she said. “So, we want to be sure that our students are college ready.”
Chloe Mosher responded, though, that she did not know of the “do no harm” policy until after she took her tests.
“I responsibly prepared for them. I put in the time and effort,” she said. “Looking at the past two years we have had, although this year was more ‘normal’ than last year, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t take into consideration the toll it has had on the students in your district. The fact that you had a choice and let it negatively affect us this year almost makes it seem like you didn’t want us to succeed.”
Jodi Failla, whose daughter, Mia, just graduated, also questioned whether the district considered the number of students and teachers that were quarantined due to COVID-19 this year, but were not given the same support as in past years via live-streamed lessons. She also argued that since Regents exams are standardized, she therefore sees more value in weighing the final exams prepared by teachers more heavily, because they’re based off what they taught that school year.
“We had the opportunity to level the playing field,” she said. “Or, at the very least, curtail the harm while still holding students accountable.”
Probst said if there are findings to be brought forth or a decision to be shared, it will likely be done at the next board meeting, on July 11, which is also a reorganizational meeting for next school year.
