State-wide students are showing some increases in proficiency in Common Core testing. New York State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia issued results late Friday afternoon from this spring's ELA and Math Standardized testing students in 3rd through 8th grade.
In ELA this year, the percentage of students in grades 3-8 who scored at the proficient level (Levels 3 and 4) increased by 6.6 percentage points to 37.9, up from 31.3 in 2015. In math, the percentage of students who scored at the proficient level increased this year to 39.1, up one percentage point from 38.1 in 2015.
Commissioner Elia said they are ‘very pleased’ with the performance this year.
“Moving upward is a great direction to go, but we have much work to do,” we have students that are in places in New York and schools in New York where they are not performing as well,” stated Elia.
But there was slight increase in those who refused the tests. It was at 21-percent. However, Commissioner Elia downplayed the ‘opt out’ numbers, saying 900-thousand students still took the tests
“This year the test refusal data was relatively flat compared to last year,” Elia remarked. “However, I think it is reasonable to concentrate on the hundreds of thousands of students who did take the test and that’s the data we have.”
Elia told reporters there is no one factor that led to the improvement in test scores. But Elia stressed these gains could be attributed to changes in state assessments. That includes shorter tests and a new vendor.
In the Buffalo Public School District gains were similar. ELA scores increased 4.5 and Math increased by one-percent.
You can review all the date provided by the NYSED through this on-line link.
