Standardized Test Information:

State testing can cause a lot of stress for everyone involved.

In New York State, students in grades 7, 8, and 11 are required to take a version of the New York State English Language Arts (ELA) Assessments. The purpose of this newsletter is to provide students and their families with the necessary information to understand the layout of the exam, the process of taking the exam, and the results of the exam. With this information, I am hopeful that some of the stress of test-taking will be alleviated. Of course, if you still have questions regarding any of the following state exams, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Grade 11 English Language Arts Common Core Regents Exam

Who takes the exam?

New York State requires 11th grade students to take this exam to ensure that they will graduate with the knowledge and skills to succeed in college and in their careers. Students with disabilities will receive accommodations that are in accordance with their IEPs.

When is the exam administered?

The English Language Arts Regents exam is offered in January, June, and August. For the 2019-2020 school year, the exam was offered on January 21 at 9:15 am and will be offered on January 17 at 9:15 am and August 13 at 8:30 am.  

How much time is dedicated to completing the exam?

The English Language Arts Regents exam should only take students one day to complete. Students will have three hours to finish the exam once it begins. It is suggested that students allow 60 minutes for part 1, 90 minutes for part 2, and 30 minutes for part 3.

How is the exam structured?

The English Language Arts Regents exam is divided into three parts: 1. reading comprehension (multiple choice), 2. writing from sources (argument), and 3. text analysis (exposition). The questions in all three parts are designed to align with the Common Core Reading, Writing, Language, and Speaking and Listening Standards. There are 24 multiple choice questions and 2 writing tasks that span the three parts of the exam. Common Core requires that informational texts (i.e. literary nonfiction) gain more prevalence in high school English classes, resulting in many of the texts used on the Regents to be of this genre.

Who grades the exam?

Regents exams are graded by licensed and trained New York State educators. Teachers are not allowed to grade their students’ exams.

How is the exam graded? 

Parts 2 and 3 of the English Language Arts Regents exam are scored using holistic rubrics. Part 2 is graded on a 6-point rubric, and part 3 is graded on a 4-point rubric. Both rubrics have four criteria: content and analysis, command of evidence, coherence, organization, and style, and control of conventions.

Each section of the exam has differing maximum raw score credits and weighting factors:

  Total: 56

What is considered passing for this exam?

In order to receive a diploma in New York State, all students must pass the English Language Arts Regents exam. Students who fail to meet the score of 65 and students with disabilities who fail to meet the score of 55 on the Regents exam will be placed in academic intervention services (AIS) at the start of the next academic year. Students with disabilities have low-pass and compensatory safety net options available if they are in accordance with their IEPs. If a student does not pass the Regents exam before graduation, they will not receive their diploma. To attain “mastery” status, students must earn a grade of 90 or higher.

How are the students prepared for this exam throughout the curriculum?

New York State requires high school English Language Arts classes to make students college and career ready by providing students with fluency, comprehension, analytic, and communication skills. New York State has adopted Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts that students need to learn over the course of a school year. These standards include Reading, Writing, Language, and Speaking/Listening. These standards are what teachers use to format their lesson plans accordingly to ensure that students will develop the necessary skills to perform well on the New York State exam. Additionally, teachers have access to the sample questions from previous Regents exams and the rubrics for parts 2 and 3 ahead of time, so they can implement them into their classrooms for grading written assignments as a way of familiarizing the students with the expectations of the exam.

New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards:

In 2018, New York State released its plans for the Next Generation ELA Learning Standards to replace its current NYS P-12 Learning Standards (Common Core) English Language Arts Learning Standards. 

Although the standards for New York schools are changing, students in grades 7 and 8 will still be required to take the state assessment. The last administration of state assessments aligned to the NYS P-12 Learning Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy will be in the spring of 2020. The newly-designed English Language Arts exam will be administered in the spring of the 2020-2021 school year for the first time. 

The same is true for the Regents exam. Students in grade 11 will still have to take the exam as a graduation requirement. Students in 9th grade in September 2021 will be the first high school students to receive instruction that is aligned to the NYS Next Generation ELA Learning Standards. They will follow these standards throughout the rest of their English courses. This class will be the first to take an English Language Arts Regents exam aligned to the NYS Next Generation ELA Learning Standards, which will be administered in June 2024. The last ELA Regents exam aligned to the NYS P-12 (Common Core) Learning Standards will be in June 2025.

For more information, visit NYSED’s website: http://www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction/new-york-state-next-generation-english-language-arts-learning-standards