NY State Regents Examinations

Ordering Answer Sheets

A school must order answer sheets if any of its students will be taking any of the offered Regents Exams. If your students will be taking exams in host schools that will not use your school's answer sheets, please make sure you and the host schools have reached an agreement as to which school will be responsible for which part of the process and that you will be informed by those schools of your students' scores which will not be reported into your Level 2 reports.

Required Item 1 - Contract:

• To submit the June 2024 contract, click here.
• The deadline to submit the contract is Friday, May 10, 2024.

Required Item 2 - Pre-Print File:

1. Click here to view/download and print the State Course Code Chart.

2. Click here to view/download the June 2024 pre-print file template.

   • It may take a moment for the template to open and you should not need to request access for it.

   • When the template spreadsheet appears onscreen, BEFORE you start working on it, DOWNLOAD the template to your computer as an Excel file:

     • From the Google Sheets menu:

       • Click File;

       • Select Download;

       • Select Microsoft Excel (.xls)

       • Save the downloaded file to your computer.

   • Click here to view/download a document to help format and complete the pre-print file.

3. Complete the template and save it as a regular Excel file (.xls or .xlsx).  Please add your school name to the title

4. Save the file again in the .csv format.

   • DO NOT REOPEN the .csv file in Excel or you will lose the formatting. If you must make changes, edit the regular Excel file and then re-save it as a .csv file.

5. E-mail the .csv file to Shelley Hill.

   • Please do not email it as a Google Sheets document. It should be the Excel file.

6. The deadline to submit the pre-print file is Friday, May 10, 2024.

Fees

Overall Service Fee - $ 7.50 per answer sheet

• Invoices are based on the totals submitted in the pre-print file (not the contract) and will be e-mailed to the school after its pre-print file has been processed.

• The deadline to submit payment is Friday, May 31, 2024.

• After BOCES has printed an answer sheet, the fee is due whether or not the sheet is used or the order is cancelled.

• Schools will be invoiced $ 7.50 for each additional answer sheet scanned above the total number of answer sheets ordered.

Data Warehouse Fee - $ 3.00 per student

• This fee applies to each student who had Demographic/Enrollment Records in Level 0 after January 31st but who did not take any of the 2024 Regents exams.
  • This would include students who were entered in anticipation of: taking an exam but didn't in the end; requiring an Assessment Record; or requiring graduation data.
• Schools may not receive an invoice for this fee until late Summer/early Fall.

Quality Control Fee - $ 3.00 per answer sheet

• Quality control errors include, but are not limited to: score bubbles that have not been completed; Level 0 ID number missing from an answer sheet; and an ID number on the sheet that does not match the student's Level 0 ID number.

• Click here to view/download a document on Quality Control guidelines.

• Click here to view/download a document of Quality Control Do's and Don'ts

• Click here to view/download a sample scored answer sheet.

Late Fee - $ 17.50 per answer sheet ordered after the deadline has passed

• If a school does not order answer sheets but its students take exams and the answer sheets are submitted for scanning, the school will be invoiced $ 17.50 per sheet.

Participating School Responsibilities Include

1. Full payment of all fees (overall, data warehouse, quality control, and/or late).

2. Entering new students and maintaining data in Level 0.

   • Click here to view/download a document on maintaining Level 0 data.

   • Each Fall, The Jewish Education Project Day School Team begins the process of promoting the schools’ previous year’s students by requesting verification from each school.

   • Level 0 must be properly locked with the files created for Level 1 to ensure that the data is uploaded and processed.

   • Deadlines:

     • All Demographic and Enrollment Records for 2024 students must be properly locked and uploaded no later than July 26, 2024 to allow time for processing on the back-end.

     • All other Level 0 maintenance (ex. adding/editing graduation data or Assessment Records) must be properly locked and uploaded by noon of August 15, 2024 in order to meet the cutoff for Level 0 closing on August 16, 2024. 

       • REMINDER: Once Level 0 closes for the year on August 15th, data in Level 0 will no longer be processed which means it will no longer be possible to make any changes to the Level 2 reports.

3. Submitting pre-print files of students requiring answer sheets.

   • The answer sheets will be pre-printed with the data the school submits in that file.

4. Scoring the answer sheets.

   • Each school must log into the Online Exam Ordering System in the NYSED Portal to view the list of exams the school ordered.

   • The passwords for each exam will be listed next to the name of that exam.  The password should be selected and copied.

   • The school must then go to the NYSED's Office of State Assessment's Scoring Information page and click on the link for the correct Regents administration.

   • Each exam will be linked to the scoring key.  Paste the copied password to open the appropriate scoring key.

5. Performing quality control on the scored answer sheets.

   • Click here to view/download a document on Quality Control guidelines.

   • Click here to view/download a document of Do's and Don'ts.

   • Click here to view/download a sample scored answer sheet.

6. Submitting the scored answer sheets for scanning.

7. Entering graduation data in Level 0 for high school students who have earned their Regents diplomas.

8. Reviewing ASAP and Level 2 reports for accuracy.

   • Click here to view/download a guide to access ASAP reports.

   • Click here to view/download a guide to access Level 2.

     • Level 0 will close for the year on August 16th which means that it will not be possible to change the Level 2 reports after data is processed that day.  Therefore, prior to noon on August 15th, schools should make sure that any inaccuracies in Level 2 reports have all been corrected in:

       • Level 0 (for students still enrolled in the school)

         • Click here to view/download a step-by-step guide to creating Assessment Records.

       • Level 0 Historical (for students who have left the school)

         • Click here to view/download a step-by-step guide on Level 0 Historical.

     • A note of caution: Demographic and Enrollment Records for new 2024 students must be added into Level 0 by July 26th to allow time on the back end for the students' NYSSIS records to be created.

9. Submitting the End Of Year Certification form in which schools are asked to verify that certain Level 2 reports are either: accurate, not accurate, or not required for their school.

   • The deadline to submit the form is September 1, 2024.

   • The online fillable form can be found in the IRS Data Exchange (IDEx) which is accessed through your NYSED Portal account.

   • The same form can also be download and emailed back to the State going to the NYSED IRS Verification and Certification website and scrolling down to the section for Participating Religious/Independent Schools. The directions for how to email it back to the State are listed in the same section.

Basics

The NYSED stopped providing answer sheets with the NYS test booklets in 2011. To receive answer sheets and access to the Student Information Repository System (SIRS), schools must partner with a Regional Information Center (RIC).

Data

• SIRS / Level 0 – the warehouse/database where all student data is maintained. For the Regents Exams, schools will create 1 Demographic Record and 1 Enrollment Record for each student who is to take a Regents Exam.

• Level 1 – where the processed data from Level 0 is stored (schools do not have access).

• Level 2 – where all processed Level 1 data is stored and is what NYS Mandated Services will access for reimbursing schools’ claims. In Level 2, schools can access their:

  • Regents Score Reports

  • Graduation Reports

    • In June 2016, NYSED stopped requiring schools to submit paper graduation reports for 12th graders. Instead, schools must change specific fields in each graduating student’s Level 0 Demographic and Enrollment Record which will then be processed into the Level 2 report.

Test Booklets

Test booklets for all Regents Exams must be ordered via the NYSED Portal's Online Exam Request System. Schools are notified directly from NYSED in a memo which is also posted on its website when the ordering period begins and ends. Login data is assigned by the State Education Department Delegated Account System (SEDDAS).

When placing the order, if you are ordering your answer sheets through us, please select Eastern Suffolk BOCES as your RIC/Scanning Center.

If you have trouble accessing the Portal, please contact SEDDAS.

Answer sheets

Guidelines for ordering sheets can be found in the above section - Ordering Answer Sheets. In general, the notification for ordering answer sheets is e-mailed to schools in:

• Mid-November – for January Regents Exams administration (deadline in December)

• Mid-March – for June Regents Exams administration (deadline April)

• Late-June – for August Regents Exams administration (deadline July).

Resources

BOCES Website - From the Secure menu, each of the following can be selected:

• NYSED Portal (for ordering exam booklets and accessing passwords for Regents scoring keys)

  • Login Data provided by NYSED – if forgotten, try the "Reset Your Password" link or contact the SEDDAS Help Desk (please include the school name, BEDS number, and the user name you're trying to use).

• Level 0 (for entering student data)

  • Login Data provided by BOCES – if forgotten, click the "Forgot Password" link and follow the directions.

  • Click here to view/download a step-by-step guide to Level 0.

  • Click here to view/download a step-by-step guide to adding Assessment Records.

• Level 0 Historical (for entering data to records of students no longer enrolled in the school)

  • Use the NYSED Portal login data.

  • Click here to view/download a step-by-step guide to Level 0 Historical.

• NYSSIS (for resolving student identification issues related to Level 0 ID)

  • Use the NYSED Portal login data.

• L2RPT (for accessing Level 2 reports)

  • Use the NYSED Portal login data. 

  • Click here to view/download a guide to access Level 2 reports.

• ASAP (for accessing Regents scores after scanning prior to processing into Level 2)

  • Use the Level 0 login data.

  • Click here to view/download a guide to access ASAP reports.

NYSED Office of State Assessment Website – Memos related to all aspects of the administration of Regents Exams can be found on the site, including:

• Testing schedules

NYSED Office of Curriculum & Instruction Diploma Requirements Website – Information about high school diploma requirements and diploma types can be found on the site.

NYSED Office of Information and Reporting Services (IRS) Verification and Certification Website - Information about completing the End of Year Certification form can be found on the site, including a checklist of which Level 2 reports need to be verified.

NYSED IRS Level 2 Website - Information about Level 2 can be found here, including links to memos explaining the purporse of each Level 2 report.

NYSED COVID-19 Guidance for P-12 Schools - Memos related to all aspects of changes in procedure due to COVID-19 can be found on the site.

If you have questions about the Regents process, please contact Shelley Hill, Project Manager.