Most Missouri students scored at least proficient in English on a new statewide test last school year, while students in most grades scored lower in math.
Advertisement
Across the state, opt-outs increased from 5 percent of students in 2014 to 20 percent this year, raising new concerns for state education officials who urged parents and students to take the tests so children’s improvement can be accurately monitored. On the math tests, 38.1 percent of students were proficient, compared to 36.2 percent in 2014 and 31.1 percent in 2013.
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.
While 20 percent of students statewide opted out of the exams, just about 2 percent of charter students did so, according to the network.
The idea was to compare student performance in New York against a mark that was lofty and unchanging – the same approach used in Massachusetts, where student achievement is rated the highest in the country.
Education officials and unionized teachers across the state have long butted heads over the validity of state test scores as an accurate measure of learning and, by extension, a teacher’s ability to teach. On the math tests, 7.4 percent of students were proficient, compared to 7.2 percent in 2014.
“These results prove that the educational inequality that traps thousands of New York City’s children of color in poverty can be eliminated, if only our elected officials muster the political will”, Moskowitz said in a statement.
Between 55 and 59 percent of students in grades three through eight scored advanced or proficient in English. “Whether they’re up or down, they tell us virtually nothing meaningful about students or their teachers”, said union president Karen Magee. She promised the state would do everything it can to encourage testing.
Kansas City Public Schools says it intends to press the state for accreditation after the district test results are released. Business First defines a superior score as Level 4 and a basic score as Levels 3 and 4.
As for complaints that the tests and questions are too hard for students to comprehend, Elia said the opposite is true.
The common core tests faced a lot of opposition from teachers and parents, with some parents opting their kids out of the tests.
Butthe opt out movement is is exactly what invalidated the data, according to Jenny Sedlis, executive director of pro-reform advocacy group StudentsFirstNY.
On the tough Common Core-aligned exams that debuted in 2013, only 30% of the city’s third- through eighth-graders passed the English test, which was up two points from the previous year, continuing a trend of slight gains and closing the gap with peers in the rest of the state to the lowest level ever. It’s also the first full year of test scores under the de Blasio administration.
APOpt-out numbers for New York’s statewide tests were released today.
Advertisement
“When you’re talking about evaluating teachers or evaluating curriculum nd instruction, I don’t know if a 40 or 50 percent sample is what we want”, Superintendent James Przepasniak said.
