V.S. students score well above state average

For the 2018-19 school year, students in grades 3 through 8 in Valley Stream elementary school districts 13, 24 and 30 scored notably higher on the English Language Arts exam and mathematics exams than the state average of 45 percent proficiency for ELA and 47 percent proficiency for Math.

In District 30, 67 percent of students who took the tests were proficient in the ELA exams — meaning they scored a 3 or higher — a two-percent improvement over the 2017-2018 school year. For math, 65 percent of students who took the tests were proficient, compared to 61 percent in 2017-2018.

In District 13, 56 percent of students who took the ELA exams were proficient, compared to 55 percent in the previous year. In math, 62 percent of students who took the tests were proficient as opposed to 59 percent in the previous year.

District 24 saw the largest drop in English scores, with 53 percent of students proficient compared to 61 in the previous year. Math scores also saw a drop, with 63 percent of students proficient compared to 67 percent the previous year.

Opt-outs still high

Opt-outs, however, remained high and varied widely between the districts, with Long Island remaining at the center of the movement to have its children refuse to take the state tests, skewing results and leaving the State Education Department with no accurate way to track how children are progressing in their studies.

For District 30, nearly 26 percent of eligible students refused to take the math tests and 26 percent refused to take the ELA exams. Opt-outs for both tests stayed roughly within one percentage point of the previous year.

In District 24, opt-outs dropped, with roughly 45 percent of students refusing to take the ELA and math exams compared to about 51 percent the previous year.

And in District 13, nearly 35 percent of students refused to take the ELA exam as opposed to 38 percent in 2017-2018. For math, 36 percent refused compared to more than 39 percent in 2017-2018.

Peter Belfiore contributed to this story.