State test scores show mixed results

The growing number of parents opting their children out of state English Language Arts and math tests seems to have had a mixed effect on overall scores. Oceanside saw mostly gains this year, while Island Park saw mostly losses.

“Overall, we are pleased,” said Oceanside Superintendent Phyllis Harrington. “We saw improvements by cohort. Small but steady improvements.”

In Oceanside, 67.1 percent of fourth-graders met or exceeded the state standard in math, up from 62 percent last year. Fourth-grad ELA scores were down, however, with 40.1 percent passing, down from 43 percent last year. When the test was given in April, 35.1 percent of fourth-grade students refused to sit for the ELA exam, while 49 percent opted out of the math test.

Overall, 34 percent of Oceanside students did not take the ELA exam, and 39 percent sat out the math exam.

The district uses the scores to identify students who need extra help, according to Harrington. “The way I look at these assessments, they are barometers to where the student is in relationship to meeting the learning standards,” she said, adding that ultimately, the tests help the district determine if a student is on track to pass a Regents exam in that subject.

According to Board of Education President Bob Transom, there is a problem with the tests — in past years, they have included questions that were above the grade level of the tested students. And the exams have a fundamental flaw, he added: Teachers don’t receive the scores until months later.

Earlier this year, the State Education Department made test scores count for more of a teacher’s performance rating.

In eighth grade in Oceanside, 47.2 percent passed the ELA exam, up from 41 percent last year. In April, 37.4 of eighth-graders opted out of the exam. Eighth-grade math scores were not available, because just two students took the exam. Accelerated eighth-graders must take the Algebra I math Regents instead.

In Island Park, 65.3 percent of fourth-graders passed the math exam, a slight gain over 2014, while the ELA passing rate dropped from 64 to 38 percent. As for eighth-graders, none passed the math test either year, while the ELA passing rates fell from 42 percent to 25 percent. Last year, 85 eighth-graders sat for the ELA, while 44 did this year. Districtwide, 37 percent of all students opted out of the math exam, and 31 percent refused to sit for the ELA test.

Statewide, 200,000 out of 1.1 million third- through eighth-graders did not take the tests. Overall, success rates were up slightly over last year. The passing rate rose from 30.6 to 31.3 percent in ELA, and from 36.2 percent to 38.1 percent in math. In Nassau County, the ELA passing rates inched up from 42 to 43 percent, while the math rates went from 50 to 52 percent.