Dear Commons Community,

The New York State Education Department released the results of standardized test scores yesterday.  The data indicate that math and English scores for students who took the  standardized tests last spring inched up slightly compared with 2016 scores.

The state Education Department said 39.8 percent of students in grades 3 through 8 were proficient in English language arts, compared with 37.9 percent in 2016.

The department said 40.2 percent of students passed the math tests, compared with 39.1 percent the previous year.

The number of students who opted out of taking the standardized tests declined slightly from 21 percent in 2016 to 19 percent in 2017, officials said.

Scores in both math and English increased slightly for each racial group, but scores for black and Latino students continued to lag well behind their Asian and white peers.

Just 29 percent of black students and 29.2 percent of Hispanic were proficient in English language arts in 2017, compared with 47.1 percent of white students and 60.8 percent of Asian students.

Officials said 24.4 percent of black students and 27 percent of Latino students were proficient in math, compared with 50.4 percent of white students and 67.2 percent of Asian students.

The racial performance gap has narrowed slightly but remains “troubling,”  NYS Commissioer of Education MaryEllen Elia said.

In New  York City, students showed small improvements on state reading and math exams in 2017, according to standardized test scores released Tuesday.

In 2017, 37.8% of city students in grades three through eight met state math standards, up from 36.4% in 2016. And 40.6% of city kids passed reading tests in 2017, up from 38% in 2016.  New York City students outperformed the statewide average in English, with 40.6 percent demonstrating proficiency, compared with 39.8 percent statewide. The comparison was reversed in math, with the New York City proficiency average of 37.8 percent lagging behind the statewide average of 40.2 percent.

While we would like to see larger gains, the numbers are moving in the right direction.

Tony