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Light Rain Test scores fall in Valley Stream, state
Higher scores now needed to meet proficiency level
Test scores fell in all four Valley Stream school districts, across Long Island and throughout New York after the State Education Department raised the passing mark on state assessments in an effort to better prepare students for higher education.
In recent years, school districts across the state had enjoyed continually increasing passing rates in English Language Arts and math. Students in grades 3 through 8 are tested every year. State Education Commissioner David Steiner had recommended increasing the cut scores, which determine a student’s proficiency level. Students scoring at Levels 1 and 2 are considered to be in need of academic intervention, while those at Levels 3 and 4 are considered to have passed. The higher cut scores mean many students who were scoring at Level 3 are now at Level 2.
But the change in cut scores wasn’t announced until late July, two months after the tests were given. Valley Stream school officials are perplexed as to why the state made this decision so late. “This is like moving the finish line farther away during the race,” District 24 Superintendent Dr. Edward Fale said, adding that all passing rates would have ranged from 84 to 99 percent there if the cut scores hadn’t changed.
Instead, the best mark in District 24 was an 81 percent passing rate on the sixth-grade ELA test and the worst, 59 percent on the grade 5 ELA.
District 30 had passing rates ranging from 68 to 82 percent, down from 85 to 99 percent last year. Superintendent Dr. Elaine Kanas noted that if the old cut scores had remained, 93 percent of tested students in District 30 would have passed. That would have been up from 91 percent a year ago. That does show progress, she said, even though the passing rate is way down because of the scoring change.
In District 13, 62 percent of students passed the grade 5 ELA while the top mark was an 86 percent passing rate on the grade 6 ELA.
The Central High School District saw its scores drop about 20 points on each test. Passing rates last year were between 85 and 95 percent in grades 7 and 8, but the best mark this year was 73 percent of students reaching proficiency on the seventh-grade math test.
