12.08.09
Students will excel when taught the relevance of a topic in the 'real world' and not just how to do well on a state assessment.
In its two-year history, nearly every student taking a Regents Exam at TVHS has passed with TVHS students achieving on most state Regents exams a higher rate passing with distinction than the state average of students just passing the exams.
"We are very pleased with our results. "We showed that we can do relevant, rigorous project-based learning without focusing on test preparation or teaching to the test," said TVHS Principal Dan Liebert.
Thirty-three out of thirty-four TVHS students taking the global
history and living environment exams passed in June.
Specifically, TVHS had a 97 percent
passing rate for the Global History and Geography Regents, compared
to a 67 percent state average. Additionally, 68 percent of
TVHS students earned a distinction in passing, compared to state
average of 28 percent on the exam.
In the Living Environment Regents Exam,
97 percent of TVHS students passed and 72 percent did so
while earning distinction, compared to a state average of 75 percent
passing and 26 percent earning distinction.
A state designation of "distinction" indicates a student scored an
85 or better on the exam
Additionally, 18 out of 24 TVHS freshmen
passed the integrated algebra regents exam.
The school's remaining freshmen had previously taken the exam and
studied deep algebra at TVHS last year. There are no state
averages for this exam.
"When you teach a rigorous project with real world relevance, the
students will do well on those test," said Liebert.
For the Geometry Regents Exam, Liebert said he and others are
actively working to improve the results for next year after 59
percent of TVHS passed and 12 percent did so with distinction. TVHS'
math teachers have met with area college professors, a former math
school district department head and area math teachers to examine
last year’s preparation for the Regents Exam and have developed a
plan to better prepare students for the Regents.
Liebert also noted that all TVHS sophomores took the geometry exam as opposed to a traditional school setting in which only a certain population would take the exam.
"We are confident that, like living environment and global history, geometry can be taught in a project-based learning with the same excellent results of nearly 100 percent student passage. We will achieve that goal and our students will continue to excel in all topics."
Students at TVHS achieved a 100 percent regents exam passing rate in the first year of the school's history, the 2007-08 school year, when every student passed the algebra exam.
"I couldn't be more excited about what we are learning and I couldn’t be more excited on the positive results of what we have done," said Liebert.
TVHS is a two-year-old state-of-the-art public school in Rensselaer that serves students from 40 public schools in seven Capital Region counties – Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Columbia, Greene, Schoharie and Saratoga counties. The school combines the latest technology with project-based learning – a partnership that is designed to develop students with the skills employers are requiring in today's ever-changing workforce. It is funded through a partnership between Capital Region BOCES and Questar III.
