Slow upgrade
Modest gains in school exams
CITY STUDENTS showed small improvements on state reading and math exams this year, according to standardized test scores released Tuesday.
For the 2016-17 school year, 37.8% of city students in third through eighth grades met state math standards, up from 36.4% from the previous year. And 40.6% of city kids passed reading tests this year, up from 38%.
Statewide, student scores inched up as well, rising from a 39.1% math pass rate in 2016 to a 40.2% pass rate in 2017. Likewise, reading proficiency rates rose from 37.9% in 2016 to 39.8% this year.
But gains on the exams were smaller across all categories and districts this year over last. For the previous year, state Education Department officials shortened exams and eliminated time limits.
Mayor de Blasio made the most of the modest bump at an Education Department press conference announcing the scores.
“This is a good news day,” the mayor crowed. “So many educators in this city, working more closely than ever with parents, have found a way to reach our young people.”
He added: “For the fourth year in a row, our test scores have gone up.”
Reading and math scores for the state and city have been creeping up each year since 2013, when officials pegged the exams to tougher Common Core standards.
But widespread opposition to the difficulty of the tests has also erupted and state Education Department officials walked back the consequences tied to the exams.
And now, education officials are designing new exams and standards that will be introduced to public school students in 2021.
As in 2015 and 2016, a significant portion of families boycotted this year’s exams, with 19% of students statewide sitting them out the tests. That’s down from 21% in 2016.
Critics across the state have skipped the tests for years to protest the exams’ roles in public education.
And as in previous years, black and Hispanic students showed gains in reading and math, but continued to face an achievement gap both in the city and across the state.
Citywide, the portion of black students who met reading standards inched up from 26.6% in 2016 to 28.9% in 2017. Hispanic students’ reading pass rates rose from 27.2% to 29.7%.
As in 2016, the city’s charter school students outperformed their counterparts in traditional public schools.
Charter students’ reading pass rates rose from 43% last year to 48.2% this year. Their math proficiency increased from 48.7% to 51.7%.