New York City Shows Slight Uptick on Tests

Students in New York State made modest gains on the standardized tests in math and English this year while the number of students who refused to take the tests remained steady compared to last year, around 21 percent, according to the New York State Education Department.

The percentage of students in grades 3-8 who scored at the proficient level, getting a three or four, on their English tests increased by 6.6 percentage points to 37.9 from last year. New York City’s proficiency increased to 38 percent, up 7.6 percentage points. For the first time, New York City matched the rest of the state on the English scores.

In math, the percentage of students deemed proficient this year was 39.1, up one percentage point. New York City’s math proficiency increased by 1.2 percentage points to 36.4 percent of all the students who took the test.

For a summary of the test results, as well as individual school and district results, click here. 

After releasing the figures late Friday, state and city officials offered muted praise. Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said nothing about the results but instead focused on efforts to improve testing and the climate surrounding it.

“Since my first day on the job a little over a year ago, I’ve been listening to parents, teachers, school administrators and the public – seeking their expertise on how we can improve. We’ve taken their advice and made important changes to the exams. It’s an ongoing process, but better standards, better curriculum and better tests will result in better student outcomes,” she said in a statement.

According to state data, the test refusal rate was approximately 21 percent, which is relatively flat with last year. You can see the opt-out rates by school here. About 50 percent of the opt-out students this year did not participate in 2015.

New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña noted the improvement in scores across the board, in every school district.

“Since day one as Chancellor, I’ve focused on strengthening literacy instruction, and our students and educators should be proud of the increased scores in every grade, across every district in every borough," she said. "In addition to the increases in proficiency, we saw a substantial decrease in students scoring at the lowest proficiency level – particularly black and Hispanic students; these students are making real progress towards becoming proficient."

Black students considered proficient on the English test increased 7.6 percentage points; Hispanic students increased 7.4 percentage points. White students increased 7.6 percentage points.

Charter schools showed impressive gains. Statewide, proficiency on the English tests increased by 12.8 percentage points. In New York City, proficiency was up by 13.7 percentage points among the charter school students.

In math, students in charter schools scoring at the proficient level increased by 3.9 percentage points statewide. In New York City, math proficiency among charter school students increased by 4.5 percentage points.

Education officials credited the statewide gains to both changes made to the testing process and greater comfort level among teachers with the tests which are aligned to the Common Core learning standards.

They also promised that the school reports sent to families later this summer will be easier to understand, with more information on how their child performed.