By Mike Schnitzel
Just over 69 percent of seventh-graders passed the exam. They were taking it for the first time this year, along with students in third, fifth and sixth grades, in accordance with a new state mandate. In the past, the test was given only to fourth- and eighth-graders.
In the elementary districts, fourth-grade passing percentages dropped across the board, with the largest decrease in District 30, from 87 percent last year to 76.4 percent this year. School administrators said that the wider distribution of test preparation resources due to the new state requirements is to blame for the lower scores.
District 30 Superintendent Lawrence McGoldrick said that the most important thing schools need to do is analyze the scores to help students in the future. We are starting an initiative to look at the scoring and see how individual students improved, McGoldrick said. We want to see that individuals that haven-t passed have shown substantive growth in their ability. Now that the test is being given in more grades, we can track students- progress individually.
District 24 Superintendent Dr. Edward Fale was pleased with his district-s overall performance. Among the district-s third-graders, 81.8 percent passed, along with 81.4 percent of fourth-graders (down from 85 percent last year), 82.1 percent of fifth-graders and 82.5 percent of six-graders. These test scores give us good baseline information to help our students, Fale said. I-m pleased that we had very few students on Level 1 the lowest of four scores - but I-m disappointed we didn-t have as many students as I would have liked get a Level 4 the highest score grouping possible.
Schools have been giving their students extra test preparation to improve their scores. In District 30, students had the option of attending the Saturday Academy, four Saturdays of study in the weeks before the test was given, in January. In District 24, Operation Success assisted students who needed extra work. District 13 focused on helping students with their test-taking skills through student-teacher interaction. We want to create a climate for test-taking to improve students- test-taking ability in classrooms, District 13 Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Lison said in an earlier interview with the Herald.
At the secondary level, students were offered additional writing courses to help them improve their skills. We implemented that program a year ago, and each student takes an extra writing course at their appropriate level of achievement, Central High School Superintendent Marc Bernstein said, adding that he believed students- success on this year-s test was attributable to the hard work of students and teachers alike.
In the four-level scoring system, Level 1 is defined as showing minimal achievement of the state standards, or demonstrating no evidence of proficiency in any of the standards. Level 2 shows partial achievement of the standards, or some knowledge and skill for each standard, or full proficiency in some but not all of the standards. Level 3 is defined as meeting all of the standards, and Level 4 shows superior performance, knowledge and skill.
Comments about this story? MSchnitzel@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 265.
