By Eileen Buckley
Albany, NY – Less than half of New York's middle school students met the English standards this year.
According to test results released Wednesday by the state Education Department, the percentage of students meeting all the English standards in eighth grade increased by one percentage point over last year to 48 percent, showing little change since 1999. But the share of children scoring worst also declined to 6.6 percent, from 13.6 percent in 2001.
Meanwhile, a record 70 percent of fourth graders met all the state standards in English.
Less than 54 percent of African-American students met all the fourth-grade English standards, a gain of ten percentage points from last year. More than 57 percent of Hispanic students met the standards, which is eleven percentage points better than a year ago.
In the Buffalo area, Frederick Law Olmsted-School 64 and Tapestry Charter had the highest percentage of fourth graders who posted superior work in grade four English. They were followed by Smallwood Drive school in Amherst. And in eighth grade English, City Honors in Buffalo topped the list followed by Amherst Middle.