The old adage that success has a thousand parents while failure is an orphan was in play again today as both the Mayor Bill de Blasio Administration and charter school officials took long bows after the state education department (NYSED) released grades 3-8 state test scores showing city students improved considerably in both math and English.
In 2016, 38.0 percent of city students met proficiency standards in English, a 7.6 point increase from 30.4 percent last year. In math, 36.4 percent of the students met proficiency standards, a 1.2 percent increase over last year’s 35.2 percent score.
However, the NYSED did note that due to changes in the 2016 exams, the proficiency rates from exams prior to 2016 are not directly comparable to the 2016 proficiency rates. These changes included less questions and no time limit on the tests.
Nevertheless, the de Blasio Administration pointed out it was the third year in a row that the test scores in math improved and pointed out several key findings including:
- A higher percentage of New York City students now read at grade level than in the rest of the State outside the City, the first time this has been true since standardized testing was put in place for all grades in 2006.
- The improvement in the performance of City students in English substantially exceeded the rest of the State (an increase of 7.6 points in students at grade level versus 6.6 points), continuing a trend that has led the share of City students reading at grade level to rise by 44 percent over the past three years.
- The percentage of City students reading at the lowest level fell by 6.5 points, one of the largest improvements in years, including dropping 8.7 points among Black students and 7.4 points among Hispanic students, helping to reduce the achievement gaps in English.
- The share of students reaching proficiency in math in the City has grown by 23 percent over the past three years.
- Renewal Schools grew slightly faster than other City schools in math, but grew slightly less rapidly in reading, although 59 of the 63 Renewal Schools tested improved in reading.
“These results represent important progress and outline real improvements across each borough of our City. We congratulate our students, families and devoted educators for this critical step forward,” said de Blasio. “We remain focused on building on these gains and others – such as the highest-ever high school graduation rate – to deliver equity and excellence for every public school student across the City, no matter their zip code.”
Meanwhile Jenny Sedlis, executive director of the pro-charter schools StudentsFirstNY, noted that while changes in the test make it harder to draw comparisons to previous years, the city’s charter schools saw the largest increase in the English exams in the state, 13.7 points. Additionally, the city’s charter schools significantly outperformed the district schools in both Math and English even though charters serve a higher need population than the district overall, she said.
“The evidence is in that charter schools are the most effective urban school reform in the nation. Charter schools are serving high-risk populations incredibly effectively and it’s time for Mayor de Blasio to embrace what actually works for low-income students,” said Sedlis.
“The real news from today is the spectacular success of New York City charter schools. The evidence is in that charter schools are the most effective urban school reform in the nation. Charter schools are serving high-risk populations incredibly effectively and it’s time for Mayor de Blasio to embrace what actually works for low-income students,” said Sedlis.
Meanwhile, Success Academy (SA) Charter Schools founder and CEO Eva Moskowitz championed that SA schools again had the top scores in the state, and that many of the schools are in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.
“I am incredibly proud of Success Academy’s hard-working and talented educators, our scholars who have pushed themselves to new heights of understanding, and our parents who make sure they never give up,” said Moskowitz. “But we must continue our work with even greater urgency. There are almost 17,000 students on the Success wait list and our city’s immense educational suffering is fundamentally unjust.”
Moskowitz said in math, the top five schools were all SA schools with three – SA Fort Greene, SA Crown Heights and SA Bed-Stuy1 – on the list.
In English, two of the top five schools statewide were in Brooklyn – SA Crown Heights and SA Bed-Stuy 1.
Additionally, students with disabilities at Success Academy were seven times more likely to pass math and six times more likely to pass English than their peers citywide, she said.
