Petition: Save The NYS Comprehensive Regents Examinations in all Foreign Languages
Good afternoon,
My name is Brian Serwicki, a teacher in East Aurora, NY, a resident of Orchard Park, NY, and the president of the 40+ member Classical Association of Western New York (CAWNY). We are an organization of teachers, professors, and professionals who meet regularly to share ideas and resources and provide opportunities for schools and students.
We are writing about the elimination of LOTE exams, including the proficiency examinations and the comprehensive Regents examinations. As teacherswe would actually be the first peopleurging the state to get rid of many of the exams; we teachers set high standards based on the NYS standards and the national standards, and are certainly capable enough in NYS to develop our own exams assessing checkpoints A and B. Since proficiency exams are simply a way to articulate between middle school and high school foreign languages, we do not see a problem in eliminating the proficiency exams, since districts themselves, as well as teachers should be able to develop assessments which determine the reaching of checkpoint A goals. Schools and programs will continue without any further expenses or hindrances.
The elimination of the Regents exams however in all languages but Spanish and French will negatively affect many programs across the state:
Schools will be less likely to look at language programs outside of French and Spanish (and will be more likely to cut them) because they do not end with a Regents exam sequence.
If Regents exams are cut in LOTE classes (other than Spanish or French), will students taking those languages still be able to earn a Regents sequence after taking 3 years of the language and be eligible for the advanced Regents diploma? If not, advanced Regents diploma rates are likely to go down, and we are cheating students out of earning the types of diplomas they deserve simply because of the foreign language choices they make.
Fewer students and parents would be likely to sign up for foreign languages outside of French or Spanish, and considering the diversity of NYS, and all of the benefits of taking languages like Latin, German, Italian, Hebrew, Asian languages etc., this would result in fewer choices and opportunities for our students. Indeed French and Spanish are important languages, but in our Latin classes for example, we touch on law, medicine, derivatives which help students in SAT’s, government, economics, history, science, literature, etc. There is a vast amount of utility in the variety of languages our state offers.
LOTE departments will be downsized as a result of eliminating Regents exams, at the same time businesses and colleges are seeking expanded foreign language skills from potential candidates. I certainly know that my knowledge of foreign language learning helped me more easily pick up Arabic as an infantry Marine in Iraq.
Schools will have to look for alternative means for standardized assessments if Regents exams are not to be offered in foreign languages (other than French or Spanish). Colleges will want to know how students performed in a standardized assessment in whatever language they took. Schools might adopt other exams like the SATII exams, or may have to apply for a Regents variance which will end up costing districts more money (not to mention that in some cases such alternative pale in quality when compared to the state exams). The eliminations you are proposing then will likely be borne by the local taxpayers.
We arecompletely in favor of saving money in NYS, and think that a lot can be done to cut the massive testing apparatus in NYS to save money. Why is it that we must test students in every single grade level in English and Math (surely the curriculum is not so diverse between each grade level)? The Regents Exams in foreign languages are given only after a three year high school sequence, not every year. Wedo concede that it would be wise to cut the 8th grade proficiency exams. However, it would have massive negative effects, disenfranchising students, cutting and reducing language programs, diminishing LOTE departments, restricting information to colleges, and costing school districts and taxpayersif the state were to cut the Comprehensive Regents Exams in foreign languages other than French or Spanish.
Thank you for your time. It is our hope that when the state government makes its decision on this issue that it does so well informed, with a knowledge of the consequences, and with wisdom, foresight, and compassion for our students, schools, and communities.
Respectfully yours,
Brian R. Serwicki
President, Classical Association of Western New York
,
Petition: Save The NYS Comprehensive Regents Examinations in all Foreign Languages
We Hereby support this Petition and its attached epistle and are asking the state not to eliminate Regents Exams in Foreign Languages as proposed by John B. King Jr. in his Assessment Cost Reduction Strategies
Taxpayers, Educators, and Professionals Signatures and Titles (if applicable)
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