Regents scores rise at Mineola High School

Rebecca Klar

Mineola High School has a lot to celebrate, said Principal Whittney Smith at Thursday’s Board of Education meeting.

Smith and his administrative team, Lisa Downey, Heather Dvorak, and Jennie Fahey presented the most recent statistics on test scores, graduation rates and college course enrollment.

Seventy-four percent of the class of 2016 graduated with a Regents diploma, and the class of 2017 is projected to do so, as well. Mineola High School students far exceed the average rate of students in Nassau County sitting for Regents exams, Smith said.

“The state calls these elective exams but we don’t call theme elective,” Smith said. “We want everybody to pursue that rigorous education not just see them as elective.”

But while more students were sitting for the exam, many of the average scores for the tests fell.

On the Global History Regents the total passing rate was 81 percent in 2017 compared to 87 percent in 2016. On the US History test, the average score decreased by 6 percent.

Trustee Brian Widman asked Smith if too many students that aren’t ready for testing are being pushed to take the Regents.

Smith said the numbers could be misleading.

The cohort of students represented in the data isn’t that large, so the decreases only express about 13 students, Smith said. The state also reports data from all students living in the district – even those that are being taught at BOCES or an alternative school, Smith said.

Additionally, the rates of students who achieved mastery level, a score greater than 85 percent, increased on those same tests.

For U.S. History, the rate of mastery increased from 49 percent in 2016 to 53 percent in 2017. On the Global History Regents, there was a 7 percent increase in students achieving mastery level between the two years.

Ed Escobar, assistant superintendent for human resources, said the numbers are remarkable in context of “unique challenges” Mineola faces as a district.

“More than a quarter of the high school population is on free and reduced lunch, and there’s a large ENL population,” Escobar said. “Those create tremendous challenges.”

English as a new language learners showed great progress in the last year, according to the high school administration.

This was the first year Bilingual Algebra was taught; there was a 37 percent increase in ELL students passing the test. The total number of passing students on the Algebra I Regents increased, too, by 5 percent.

Another adjustment made to the curriculum is the career Development and Occupation Studies pathway for graduation, designed to help students with disabilities receive a Regents diploma.

On this track, students focus on one Regents each year and have a double period in that course to help them prepare. They sit for the Algebra Regents in eighth grade with their peers, and then proceed to take the US History Regents in night grade, and Earth Science in tenth grade.

Rather than taking the fifth, additional required exam for a Regents diploma, students take a vocational counseling course in eleventh and twelfth grade, with a work-based learning portion during their senior year where students work part-time after school once a week.

“We’ve taken a look at where the strengths lie for our students with disabilities,” Fahey said. “We’re focusing our kids on strengths.”

Eighty-seven percent of students have taken a college level or AP course by the time they graduate. Smith said that’s due to the addition of “accessible college coursework,” such as advanced manufacturing and AP computer science principles, that allow students who might not typically take traditional AP courses to prepare for college level classes.

Smith said he is proud of the progress the school has made, but said he and the administration aren’t done yet because “continuous improvement always goes on.”

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