In a matter of weeks, the 2024 annual state language and mathematics achievement tests will be conducted in New York schools, with the precedent of some progress in the results of the Big Apple’s public school districts and a notable advantage for students of charter centers, in the 2022-23 period.
There is also another precedent: last spring almost 200,000 students, or one in five, refused to take the state’s standardized reading and math tests for grades 3 through 8 administered in the spring, according to data discussed by The New York Times, derived from the State Secretary of Education (SED).
Although there is no penalty for students who choose not to participate in the tests, which are used to measure skills and knowledge, it is a measurement that for decades has had weight in making big decisions about the future of instruction.
In 2019, the typical student from the poorest 10% of districts was a year and a half behind the national average for their grade. “And nearly four years behind students in the richest 10 percent of districts in both math and reading,” TNYT noted in an analysis.
By 2022, the typical student in the poorest districts had lost three-quarters of a year in math, more than double the decline for students in the wealthiest districts. The declines in reading scores were half those in mathematics and, similarly, were much larger in the most vulnerable districts than in the most advantaged districts.
“The pandemic left students from predominantly minority and low-income communities even further behind their peers in wealthier, whiter districts,” the New York newspaper concluded.
Although there are parent movements and civil organizations that radically oppose these evaluation methods, spokespersons for the New York State Education Department (NYSED) warn that “without standardized tests, we will not know where to put the greatest amount of resources, not even What are the problems that students face. Getting rid of widespread screening will not help the most vulnerable children; “It will only leave us wondering how best to support them.”
Charters up front
Last year’s state assessments also revealed that for 15 consecutive years, New York City charter schools have shown the highest proficiency rates when compared to traditional public schools in the Big Apple.
Specifically in English language arts (ELA), the percentage proficiency gap exceeds 7% (59% for charter schools and 52% for district sites). In mathematics, the gap is 13 percentage points (63% to 50%).
These scores provide a snapshot of how students are performing under the new learning standards after state officials revamped the tests for the last school year.
Students now take new exams that followed the Next Generation Learning Standards, which were established after revisions to the Common Core. State education officials also established new thresholds and methods for measuring student proficiency.
These tests, administered in schools across the state each spring, provide a measure of how students are progressing academically.
Although the NYC Charter School Center did not compare these statistics with official state information, there are approximations that suggest that they also surpass public schools in the rest of New York in the analysis of the scores.
According to this organization, “black and Hispanic students in New York City charter schools represent 90% of enrolled students and this group continued the clear trend of achieving much higher proficiency rates than their counterparts in charter schools.” schools in the district, both in ELA and mathematics.”
In English, black and Hispanic charter school students outperformed their district counterparts, by 19 percentage points (59% vs. 40%) and 16 percentage points (55% vs. 39%) respectively.
In mathematics, this ethnic group studying in charter schools outperformed their traditional school peers by 27 percentage points (61% vs. 34%) and 25 percentage points (61% vs. 36%), respectively.
“While further statistical analysis is warranted, these are surprisingly large gaps that demand further investigation. We recognize the hard work of teachers. We know there is still much to do to improve student achievement,” the Charter Schools Center highlighted in a statement.
What happened in traditional schools?
Derived from the same state results, half of the students in third through eighth grades in traditional public schools in the Big Apple were proficient in reading and mathematics, according to the results of last year’s state tests.
In a statement, Schools Chancellor David Banks called the results “encouraging,” pointing to an “upward trajectory” from previous years’ exams, in which approximately 49% of students passed reading and reading tests. about 38% achieved proficiency in mathematics.
In 2023, 51.7% of the city’s third through eighth grade students were considered on grade level, based on their reading test scores, and 49.9% were on grade level in math, although student performance was different between grades.
Eighth graders, for example, performed worse on math tests. Just 42% achieved proficiency, compared to 55% of third graders.
On the reading tests it was different: 59% of eighth graders were considered on grade level, compared to about 48% of third graders.
“These results tell us: we are on the right path. “We are making progress in our recovery from the pandemic and we will build on this success this year and in the future,” said Banks.
Test details:
- Students in grades 3-8 take the state English Language Arts (ELA) exam each spring this year on April 11-12. The math exam dates are May 7 and 8.
- Students who have been in the United States for less than one year are not required to take the New York State ELA exam in their grade, but must begin taking ELA exams after the first year.
- Students answer multiple-choice questions based on short passages they read and write responses to open-ended questions based on stories, articles, or poems they read.
- The math test is an untimed test that contains several different types of questions. Students answer multiple choice and open-ended questions.
- For this 2023-24 school year, grades 5 and 8 will be required to take the tests on a computer.