Two Westchester high schools will participate in a state pilot program aimed at helping schools shift toward performance-based assessments, which evaluate what students know by having them perform tasks or create something.

The state Education Department announced Hendrick Hudson High School and Port Chester High School as two of 23 New York schools that will take part. The state intends to study how to help schools make the shift away from traditional forms of testing students.

“Pilot schools will develop best practices that go beyond traditional teaching and assessment models and prepare students for success post-graduation,” Chancellor Lester Young said in a statement earlier this month.

K-12 education in New York is headed away from its reliance on traditional tests and toward alternative ways of assessing what students know. In November, a commission tasked with reimagining the state’s requirements to receive a high school diploma recommended the state allow for more kinds of assessment, including performance-based assessments, capstone projects and experiential learning.

But it’s unclear how long such a shift will take. New York schools’ assessments of students to determine graduation readiness have largely revolved around its Regents exams, which date back to the 1800s.

Three approaches to assessment that will be piloted

Starting in the fall, pilot schools will begin to shift some of their courses to performance-based approaches to assessing students. During the 2025-26 school year, schools plan to expand that approach to more courses. By the 2026-27 school year, pilot schools will be working toward implementing the approach throughout their schools.

Results and recommendations from the pilot aren’t expected until the 2026-27 school year.

The pilot will focus on three approaches:

• In career and technical education, students will learn through internships and work settings.

• Some classes will have students learn by asking questions and developing critical thinking. Educators refer to this approach as “inquiry-based learning.” The state Education Department gave two examples of such programs: the International Baccalaureate program and Big Picture Learning, both of which develop “learner profiles” for students and incorporate them into their approaches. IB’s learner profiles help students develop characteristics like being open-minded, reflective and principled, while Big Picture Learning’s learner profiles center around developing individualized learning plans and assessments for students.

• Some classes will have students learning through projects, with assessments based on those projects, such as a final presentation, product, or even an event.

Port Chester Superintendent Aurelia Henriquez said in a statement the district was eager to collaborate with other schools in the pilot and that the district was particularly interested in project-based learning and performance-based assessment tasks.

Such tasks could include completing a science experiment, writing a research paper in history or designing something using engineering and math.

Hendrick Hudson High School will focus on career and technical education, Lauren Scollins, Hendrick Hudson High School’s principal, said in an email.

“As a district, we hope to use this experience as an opportunity to redesign teaching and learning,” Scollins said. “We are also excited about the opportunity to collaborate with state-wide professionals who wish to adapt their practice to teach students, individually and collectively, rather than to a test.”

To help students explore all their options for after high school, Hendrick Hudson plans on introducing “an expanded database of summer opportunities; lunch career series; alumni engagement; career days and fairs; job readiness learning experiences; and field trips,” Scollins said.

Contact Diana Dombrowski at ddombrowski@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @domdomdiana.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Two Westchester high schools join New York pilot on testing students