Fewer New York City Students Must Go to School This Summer

Fewer students in New York City public schools have been required to attend summer school this year than in the past several years, according to data from the city’s Education Department. Data from the department also shows a lower percentage of students have been held back a grade since Bill de Blasio became mayor in 2014.

According to the department, about 19,000 students, or 6.2 percent of third through eighth graders, were required to attend summer school this year to proceed to the next grade. That is lower than the average over the past five years for that group, about 26,000, or 8.3 percent of students.

The percentage of students who were held back has also fallen, from 2.5 percent in the 2012- 13 school year to 1.2 percent in the 2013- 14 school year, the most recent year available. Students who fail summer school are held back.

The city attributed these drops to a change in state law in April 2014 that said the tests for third through eighth graders — which have since become only more controversial — could not be the primary factor in deciding whether a student should progress. Instead, the tests would be among multiple measures that could be used to make that decision.

“In accordance with state law, school leaders are now looking closely at a student’s progress throughout the entire year rather than at the end based on a single test,” Devora Kaye, a department spokeswoman, said in an email.

To some, the drop may appear to stand in contrast to the efforts of former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who sought to make it more difficult for students to progress from grade to grade, relying heavily on the state tests.

Eric Nadelstern, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College and a former deputy chancellor at the Education Department under Mr. Bloomberg, said the falling number of troubled students could be read in two ways.

“The critics will say that they’ve lowered the standards,” Mr. Nadelstern said, “and the proponents will say this is a sign of success.”nytimes. com