NY statewide test scores for grades 3-8 in English, math are released
The state Education Department released test scores Thursday for students statewide in grades 3-8 who took the English Language Arts and math state assessments in the spring. Credit: Randee Daddona
The state Education Department released test scores Thursday for students statewide in grades 3-8 who took the English Language Arts and math state assessments in the spring under revised state learning guidelines known as “Next Generation.”
The statewide scores showed a 48% rate of proficiency in grades 3-8 in English Language Arts and a 50% rate in math, according to the scores released on the New York State School Report Card site.
Keshia Clukey, a spokesperson for the state Education Department, said Thursday it's “ important to note that an accurate comparison cannot be made to prior years' results because the spring 2023 tests were based on the newly implemented Next Generation Learning Standards.”
The state adopted those guidelines in 2017 to replace the more controversial Common Core guidelines, which had been used in prior years.
Last year, local educators became concerned upon the release of 2022 scores that showed slightly less than 40% of tested New York students passed state math assessments in grades 3-8 in what was considered a clear sign that the COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted academic achievement at national, state and local levels.
At the time, testing in English showed somewhat better outcomes, with just under 50% of those tested passing. Educators said last year that those results proved math was difficult to teach remotely.
Annual testing on the new standards started in April and ended in May with the math exams.
Local districts have had the 2023 data for their students since September, as the state provided them to districts for programming and instructional services, as well as parent engagement. Since June, principals and teachers have had access to instructional reports showing how students in their classroom performed on each question on the tests, state officials said.
“NYSED strongly believes that no single test score, on its own, can fully or accurately depict what a student knows and can do. To best support students, we must first collect information about where they are in terms of learning. This information should come from multiple sources, including teacher interactions, classroom assessment, state-level assessments, and other measures,” Clukey said.
Baldwin Superintendent Shari Camhi said her district tests students three times a year in literacy and math skills using an online platform that gives instantaneous, detailed results to educators.
"For example, it gives us information on vocabulary, comprehension and language skills. Based on that knowledge, we can inform instruction on a timely basis, with accurate and detailed information," she said.
The state's mandatory grade 3-8 testing "is a good tool to keep systems accountable, provides some information for parents but is not sufficient to guide instruction for the deepest of learning," she said.
Last year's results were released in late October.
Emily D'Vertola, education policy analyst at the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany-area, fiscally conservative think tank, said parents and educators will not be able to gain much insight from the 2023 scores.
“Not only was individual student data withheld from parents and school leaders until September, no one in the state of New York got to see how their school districts stacked up to those around the state (or the rest of the country) before making decisions for the following year,” she said. “Additionally, the data itself will not be accurately comparable to previous years as the standard for 3rd through 8th grade-level proficiency has changed.”
With Michael Ebert
Joie Tyrrell is a Long Island native and covers education for Newsday, where she has worked since 1998.
