Secure Exam Performance
This exam is taken at the end of the 5th grade. It covers 5th and 6th grade content. The students have never been taught the 6th grade content in school. The median grade is 69%. The average grade is 69.5%.
Students that do well learned grade 6 content outside of Manhasset schools. The secure exam is a key criteria to ensure access to advanced math and other advanced placement programs according to the current placement rubric. This policy creates a culture of parents who need to sign up for Mathnasium, Kumon, tutors, and other math programs to access our advanced placement programs. Prior to the 2020 policy change, students were only tested for placement based on content they had been taught in Manhasset schools.
How are the Scores Revalued for the Rubric
Manhasset uses a rubric to evaluate students. Students are assigned a value of '1' through '4' based on the secure exam performance. Those between 80-100% get a '4'. Those with a 60-80% are given a '3'. Those with a 50-60% are given a '2'. Those below 50% are given a '1'.
Sadly, those with a 60% are treated the same as those with a 79%. Once the real performance on the secure exam is revalued to a '3', the student who outperformed no longer gets credit for knowing more math content than the student who failed the exam. Manhasset administrators are comfortable with this grouping.
Students assigned a '4' are admitted regardless of teacher rating. This accounts for 23 students across both elementaries. Students revalued to a '1' can not be admitted regardless of teacher rating. This account for 6 students.
All other students (49 students or 63% of students) who had their scores revalued to a '2' or '3' have their admission to advanced math determined by teacher rating ONLY. Therefore, having an easy grading teacher is very important for the majority of students being considered. (Click here for information about teacher ratings - their inaccuracy and problematic role in determining placement via a flawed rubric.)
Secure Exam Score Distribution with Admission Status
The chart below shows the full distribution of secure exam scores with those admitted shown in white and those denied shown in orange. Some students who performed in line or better than others admitted were denied due to a biased teacher rating. One student with a score of 51% was admitted, suggesting that the district feels that anyone with a 51% or better has sufficient content knowledge to succeed. Yet many students with scores in the 50's were denied access.
Sources
Data shown on this site came from Freedom of Information Law requests (FOIL) requests made between August 2023 and January 2024. Sources for the information are provided below by clicking on orange label below. If you would like to see additional sources not shown here, please email us at manhassetmath@gmail.com