Regents may end foreign language exams

May 16, 2011 by JOHN HILDEBRAND / john.hildebrand@newsday.com

 

State education officials, citing funding cuts, Monday moved toward ending Regents exams in Spanish, French and Italian -- tests traditionally administered each year to tens of thousands of 10th-graders statewide.

Elimination of the state's three most popular foreign-language exams -- slated to take effect in the 2011-12 school year -- would mark the end of Albany's testing in that academic subject.

The cuts were approved by 16 members of the state Board of Regents, with one member, Roger Tilles of Great Neck, voting "no." Technically, that was considered a committee vote; final approval is a virtual certainty Tuesday.

Tilles contended exams could be saved through private donations or foundation grants. But other members said they had no choice but to trim costs, because they faced an $8-million shortfall in funding for testing programs.

Local foreign-language teachers and administrators expressed dismay, saying their subject was singled out for reductions. Regents exams will continue in English, social studies, math and science, though state social-studies tests for fifth- and eighth-graders also will be discontinued, a decision made last year.

"If their goal is to prepare students for the global workplace, why are they eliminating exams that will give our kids an edge?" said Francesco Fratto, director of foreign-language instruction in the Half Hollow Hills district, and spokesman for a regional administrators' group.

Albany authorities maintain they still are encouraging teenagers to take foreign-language courses indirectly, through earning Regents Diplomas with Advanced Designation. Those credentials require completion of course sequences either in foreign language, fine arts or career education. And students earning such diplomas are considered far more likely to succeed in college than those who don't.

Foreign language testing has taken big hits over the past year. In June, the Regents agreed to cancel eighth-grade foreign-language proficiency tests and Regents exams in German, Hebrew and Latin.

Monday, in recommending the latest cuts, John B. King Jr., the state's senior deputy education commissioner, noted that lawmakers had approved only $7 million of $15 million that the state Education Department had requested for Regents exams. King added that local districts are allowed to administer their own exams when Regents tests are not available.

"There are also a number of commercially available exams," said King, who is to become the department's commissioner on June 15.

Local school officials dismissed that argument, saying that Advanced Placement tests and other privately published exams are designed only for select groups of students. As an alternative, Fratto says his administrators' group will consider conducting its own uniform exams in Spanish, French and Italian during the next school year.

The group, the Foreign Language Association of Chairpersons and Supervisors, is preparing to give alternative foreign-language tests to eighth-graders on June 20. Fratto said his organization has signed up 90 districts statewide, including about 70 on the Island. In addition, Fratto said, a smaller number of districts will offer uniform alternative high-school exams in German, Hebrew and Latin.