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5128 State and Local Assessments


Adoption Date: 03/06/2014, Revised: 03/17/2016
5000 - Students
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5128 State and Local Assessments

The Board of Education is committed to providing a quality educational program for the students of the District. The Board believes that standardized testing programs, when used properly, can provide one meaningful source of information about the District’s curriculum and overall student achievement. While the Board is opposed to the over-testing of students, particularly when tests are given for non-pedagogical reasons, the Board recognizes its responsibility to comply with the laws and regulations governing public school districts. Therefore, it is the policy of this District that students must complete the requirements of the public school program, which includes taking quizzes, tests, as well as other state and local assessments, to help accomplish the following objectives:

  • To evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum and methods of instruction;
  • To provide a standardized means to evaluate student growth through individual, inter-district and intra-district comparison; and
  • To provide teachers with diagnostic information which will enable them to better address the instructional needs of their students and to differentiate instruction.

The Education Law and Commissioner’s Regulations do not provide parents with the opportunity to “opt-out” their child from required local or state assessments.

The Board recognizes that tests provide only a limited source of information regarding a student, and should be used in conjunction with all other information known about a student, and to assist the student in improving his/her learning.

State Assessments
All public school students are required by Commissioner’s Regulations to participate in state assessments that reflect the knowledge, skills and understandings that all students are expected to know and are able to perform at certain specified grade levels. If a student is in attendance at school on mandated test days, tests will be administered to him/her. If a student is legally absent on these days in accordance with the District’s Comprehensive Student Attendance Policy, he/she will be marked “absent” and the test will be administered on the make-up day. If the student refuses to take the test or the parent has provided a written refusal for the student prior to take the test prior to the day of the test, the student will be required to follow the district’s plan for all other non-tested students. 

All students will be accounted for and reported to the State Education Department (SED) in accordance with SED’s Validity Rules.

Local Assessments
All District students are required to take local tests and assessments. Local assessments are intended to test students on their knowledge of the curriculum, monitor their progress, assess their achievement, and enable the District to modify existing programs and develop new programs aligned with specific student needs. Student grades will reflect, in part, the results of these tests and assessments. If a student is legally absent on the day of an assessment, he/she will be given a make-up test upon return to school. If the student refuses to take the test or a make-up test where the test is used as an interim or final examination in a course by the end of the marking quarter, the student will be given an “Incomplete” or a grade of “zero” for the assessment, which will be factored into the student’s final grade, unless there are extenuating circumstances that render the student unable to make up the test by the end of the marking quarter (e.g., serious illness). 

Policy References:
Ref:No Child Left Behind Act
8 NYCRR §§100.3, 100.4, 100.5
SED Memo to Superintendents of Public Schools, “Information on Student Participation in State Assessments” dated January 2013Assessments” dated January 2013

Policy Cross References:
5122 - Student Placement and Evaluation
5123 - Student Grading

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