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Manhasset students no longer have to be accelerated in math to be accelerated in science, district officials announced at Thursday’s school board meeting.
Photo provided by Syntax NY
Students no longer have to be in advanced in math to be in advanced placement for science at Manhasset schools, district officials announced at the Thurday, Sept. 25 board of education meeting.
The district also added loosened requirements for getting into the advanced placement program in math and science such as allowing students to apply in later grades and if requested by parents.
“One of the positives of this approach is that it removes that ‘I had a bad day’ – that one bad day that can impact me for the next five to six years in my high school career, so I think that’s really important,” Superintendent Christopher Pellettieri said.
Parents of students in 5th and 6th grade – for whom the new rules apply – were notified on Friday.
Now, entry into double-accelerated mathematics grade 6 requires a score of 65 out of 100 on the secure exam, which will “measure students’ ability to apply grade 7 and 8 New York State Next Generation math standards,” said Rebecca Chowske, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
It will also require an achievement score on the NWEA MAP. The NWEA MAP score required is determined by the students’ secure exam requirement.
The standards for seventh-grade entry into advanced mathematics, the new entry point, are nearly identical, but student scores are measured one year later.
Any single acceleration requirements will still be available by request.
Eligibility for grade 7 AP-intensive science now requires a minimum of 16 out of 20 points on a rubric that adds together secure entrance exam scores (out of 10 points), lab and test averages (out of five points) and trimester exams (out of five points). Each score, which is originally out of 100 points, will be converted to a five-point scale to fit the rubric.
The changes were based on data analysis and four student cohorts’ worth of data analysis, Chowske said.
“Within that, the students who are most successful through the entire program tend to score around 95, but there are students within that range 85 and above, so what you’re doing is giving students multiple opportunities to find their way into the program,” she said.
Additionally, educators are looking for students whose parents have contacted the administration to let them know their child has the potential to thrive in the accelerated program.
“What we’ve encouraged parents and guardians to do – and of course when students are in secondary, we encourage them to speak up for themselves, too, for self-advocacy – is to contact the teacher and say ‘we’d really like your child to have that additional support for that and move towards that acceleration if that’s where you want to go.’”
Chowske and other educators said they aim to take active steps to support students who fall below the benchmarks, including adding a math coach this year.
“Any students who are right on the edge, we have identified and the math coach is working with the teachers to make sure those students have additional enrichment and support within the classroom.”
In other news, the school board reacted to the national cancellation of the Blue Ribbon Schools program. Manhasset was among the districts that earned the award before the program ended.
“We received an email from New York State Education Department saying the awards had been cancelled by the federal government, which, you might imagine, was terribly disappointing for a great many people across this nation and especially in schools,” Pellettieri said during his superintendent report. “There’s a lot of work that goes into that application, so we were certainly disappointed to have been told we earned that award and then have it yanked out from under us.”
All 19 Blue Ribbon nominees in New York will be honored by the state Board of Regents at a future meeting, according to J.P. O’Hare, a spokesman for the state Department of Education.
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