Master Graders at the Nassau BOCES Regional Scoring Center work their way through scoring 4,000 Regents exams from 16 school districts across the county.

Seven years ago, Nassau BOCES launched the Regional Scoring Center (RSC) to help local school districts meet the formidable challenge of grading the summer Regents exams. This year, the RSC’s Master Graders scored almost 4,000 exams from 16 school districts, completing the scoring process in less than 48 hours.

Districts bring their secured exams to Nassau BOCES because of the high level of integrity and efficiency in the center’s grading process. Scoring the Regents can be a daunting task and the demands of the state education department are rigorous, requiring a minimum of two to three graders for each exam. 

Though the multiple choice sections can be scanned and graded digitally, the exams’ constructed response questions and essays must be read and scored by individual educators, leaving a significant margin for human error in the form of scoring discrepancies. This is where the center’s Master Graders come in. These skilled, experienced professionals work in teams to reduce discrepancies and increase the validity of the resulting test scores.

“The Regional Scoring Center provides an added value for our school districts,” said Chris Fleming, Nassau BOCES Program Coordinator who oversees the RSC. “Many of the 120 Master Graders return each year to work with us. They have grown to be a cohesive and efficient team. The participating school district benefit from their expertise, as well as realize a significant savings in the cost of grading the August Regents exams.”