The New York State Education Department on Wednesday released the results of the statewide English and math tests for students in grades three through eight.
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The New York State’s Teachers’ Union was vocally supportive of the opt out movement, and did not waste time suggesting that the test results prove the invalidity of the data.
Across the state, 38.1 percent of test-takers met the state’s proficiency bar in math this year, up from 36.2 percent last year.
New York City’s scores on state tests continued to inch up in 2015, though the number of students refusing to sit for the tests this year tripled.
“The U.S. Education Department has not had to withhold money – yet – over this requirement, because states have either complied or have appropriately addressed this with schools or districts that assessed less than 95 percent of students”, the statement said.
New York City students did better on the tests that their upstate counterparts at large urban districts.
But district officials said it’s too soon to see any gains from the changes they’ve made in classroom instruction strategies over the past few years.
But the tests have had an unintended effect: Parents choosing to keep their students from participating, a protest to the growing reliance on standardized tests in public schools.
In a conference call with reporters, Elia said the 20 percent that opted out of the tests did not affect the validity of the testing.
“You absolutely cannot make a comparison so there is little context as to what can be provided for these one year results”, says DESE Commissioner Margie Vandeven.
In English language arts, 59.7 percent of the third- through eighth-grade students scored proficient or advanced.
“It’s steady progress, and we are going to continue building on it. We’ve set the highest standards anywhere in the nation, and the reforms we are undertaking are giving students, teachers and families the tools they need to succeed”, deBlasio vowed. “What our schools need most to succeed right now is stability”, said Timothy Kremer, executive director of the state School Boards Association.
In the Rochester City School District, 10,300 students took the ELA Assesment.
“That gap will be addressed”, de Blasio said, noting he expects more progress in this realm as the city “deepens” efforts with Universal pre-K, after school for middle school and other programs.
While expectations were raised for both English and math the standards stayed the same for science.
At the same time, however, “We also can say this is the universal measure in this state”, he said of the exams.
“Nine hundred thousand student test scores shouldn’t be discounted”.
Despite being very low, those passage rates are a slight improvement from past year.
A portion of teacher and principal evaluation scores is based on student performance on state tests.
“The standards are failing students”, said Wappingers mom Maureen Ryan, whose children refused the tests.
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“These assessments are a critical tool as we aim to strengthen New York’s education pipeline and ensure a higher degree of success for all students, from cradle to career”, she said.
