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.
Statewide, student scores inched up as well, rising from a 39.1% math pass rate in 2016 to a 40.2% pass rate in 2017. Likewise, reading proficiency rates rose from 37.9% in 2016 to 39.8% in 2017.
But across all categories and districts, gains on the exams were smaller in 2017 than in 2016, when state education department officials shortened that year’s exams and eliminated time limits.
State Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa said she is heartened by students’ small gains on the tests, which are used in decisions to promote students and create policy.
“I’m encouraged by the modest improvements we’re seeing in our test scores,” Rosa said.
“As I’ve always said, testing is just one piece of the puzzle to understand how students are performing.”
Reading and math scores for the state and city have been creeping up each year since 2013, when officials pegged the exams to tougher Common Core standards.
But since then, widespread opposition to the difficulty of the tests erupted and state Education Department officials walked back the consequences tied to the exams.
And now, state Education Department officials are in the process of designing new exams and standards that will be introduced to public school students in 2021.
As in 2015 and 2016, a significant portion of families boycotted this year’s exams, with 19% of students statewide sitting out the tests, down from 21% in 2016.
Critics across the state have skipped the tests for years to protest the exams’ roles in public education.
And as in previous years, black and Hispanic students showed gains in reading and math, but continued to face an achievement gap both in the city and across the state.
Citywide, the portion of black students who met reading standards inched up from 26.6% in 2016 to 28.9% in 2017. Hispanic students’ pass rates rose in reading from 27.2% to 29.7%.
As in 2016, the city’s charter school students outperformed traditional public schools on this year’s reading and math tests.
Charter school pass rates in reading rose from 43% in 2016 to 48.2% in 2016. And city charter school math proficiency rose from 48.7% to 51.7%.
