North Shore school districts saw sharp but expected declines in test scores as the state rolled out the results of the first exams to incorporate its recently adopted Common Core learning standards.
The statewide percentage of students in grades three through eight achieving proficiency dipped to about 30 for both math and English, according to state Education Department figures.
Local districts generally outperformed state averages but saw a wide range in declines, from Great Neck’s 14 point dip in eighth grade English to Roslyn’s precipitous 42 point decline in eighth grade students meeting math standards.
State officials emphasized that the results were designed to set a new baseline and would not be used to punish school districts, but some school superintendents criticized the way the new assessments were rolled out.
Great Neck Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Dolan accused the state of deliberately setting up public schools to fail in order to boost support for charter schools and voucher programs.
“I reject the test results because I think they’re contrived. That said, we did exceptionally well,” Dolan said. “I do believe that the results of these tests were predetermined before a single test was taken.”
Sixty-four percent of Great Neck’s eighth grade English students met state standards, along with 59.2 percent of eighth grade math students – declines of 14 and 29.8 percentage points, respectively. Fourth grade English students dropped 17.2 points to a 60.9 percent proficiency rate, and 70.1 percent of fourth grade math students met standards – a 20.1 percent decline.
According to figures provided by Dolan, Great Neck exceeded state, New York City and Nassau County performance averages by double digit percentages, and the district is not opposed to the tougher Common Core standards adopted in 2010. But he also said students were tested on material they had not been exposed to and questioned the state’s motives for releasing the results.
“I think that there is a desire to show that public schools are failing and one of the best ways to do that is to issue test results that support that belief, Dolan said. “There’s a strong feeling for vouchers and charter schools, and if that’s going to happen that first domino that will fall is the state needs to prove that public schools are failing.”
Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said in a press release that the tougher standards and accompanying testing are designed to better prepare students for academic and professional careers.
“The world has changed, the economy has changed, and what our students need to know has changed,” Tisch said in the release. “These scores reflect a new baseline and a new beginning.”
Roslyn’s Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dan Brenner said Thursday that while the results are unsatisfactory, they are not indicative of the quality of education he thinks Roslyn students receive.
“We will do an analysis as it applies to test scores, but to reiterate what I wrote in an e-mailed letter to the community, this is a district that takes a great deal of pride in what we do,” Brenner said. “We believe we are providing our students a top quality education, and measurements from a single measure via a test that was projected to go down by 30 points, in what I would suggest is a fairly arbitrary 30-point cutoff, is not a measure I would use to quantify the quality of our education.”
Brenner said the community should not be alarmed by the results, but rather look to Roslyn’s college acceptance rates and the success the district’s students have in higher education and in their careers as a more accurate measurement of the district’s quality.
In Roslyn, 57.7 percent of fourth graders were meeting state English standards, down from 81.5 percent in 2012 and 78.8 percent in 2011. At the eighth grade level, 64.2 percent of students were meeting standards, down from 84.7 percent in 2012 and 81.7 percent in 2011.
In math, 65.9 percent of Roslyn’s fourth graders were meeting state standards, down from 88.3 percent in 2012 and 88.9 percent in 2011. Only 51 percent of eighth grade students were meeting state standards, down from 93 percent in 2012 and 87.1 percent in 2011.
East Williston Superintendent of Schools Elaine Kanas echoed a common criticism of the tests from educators statewide – that no full Common Core curriculum was released in time to prepare students for the exams.
“We didn’t have all the state curriculum yet,” Kanas said. “We didn’t have all the information of what we should be teaching.”
Kanas touted other measures of East Williston’s performance, and said that more than 90 percent of eighth graders had passes state Regents exams in algebra.
Some 64.1 percent of East Williston fourth graders met standards on the new math and English exams, down from 85.9 and 92.3 percent last year.
The percentage of eighth graders earning proficient scores in math took a 44 point hit, down to 39.4 percent, and eighth grade English proficiency dropped 20.9 points to 61.3 percent.
Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth said the drop in scores was to be expected due to the new benchmarks used by the state.
“They weren’t much different than I expected,” Bierwirth said at a board of education meeting last week. “Even if the assessments had stayed the same, the scores would have changed because the benchmarks changed.”
In eighth grade math scores, 60 percent of Herricks students who took the test met the state standards, compared to 79 percent last year. In English scores, 69.8 percent of Herricks eighth graders met the standards, compared to 81.2 percent last year.
Bierwirth also warned of overemphasizing test scores, saying that he expects scores to rise next year and that Herricks would look at a variety of academic metrics to measure student achievement.
Sewanhaka saw a sharp decline in eighth grade math performance, with its 29.3 percent proficiency rate just beating out the state’s 27.4 percent average for that assessment. The district’s English scores encountered a less severe decline, dropping 18.4 points to a 41 percent passage rate.
Sewanhaka Superintendent of Schools Ralph Ferrie said the lower scores were in line with state projections and that his district was working to adjust its curriculum to fit the new standards.
“It’s not unexpected. But what we’re doing here is reviewing all our curriculum and making sure that they’re aligned with the common core,” said Ferrie. “We’re working toward making sure our students are prepared for these more rigorous assessments.”
The drops were a result of students and schools having to adjust to different expectations, New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Superintendent of Schools Robert Katulak said. Katulak added that his district had outperformed state and New York City averages.
“They just have now changed the rules, changed the benchmark,” Katulak said. “We just have to work harder to get back to where we were. It’s a new beginning.”
But Manhasset Superintendent of Schools Charles Cardillo said it is confusing to students and parents for education officials to refer to the change in testing expectations as “a new beginning” while also predicting scores to drop.
Cardillo said even though Manhasset students scored among the best in the state, scores were still lower than they were in previous years.
In Manhasset, 62.4 percent of fourth graders were meeting state English standards, down from 91.3 percent in 2012 and 84.9 percent in 2011. At the eighth grade level, 70.8 percent of students were meeting standards, down from 88.1 percent in 2012 and 85.3 percent in 2011.
In math, 77.3 percent of Manhasset’s fourth graders were meeting state standards, down from 93.8 percent in 2012 and 94.6 percent in 2011. Only 57.9 percent of eighth grade students were meeting state standards, down from 94 percent in 2012 and 93.8 percent in 2011.
“There’s an excessive amount of testing taking place, beginning with children in third grade up through students at the high school level and there needs to be a greater attention to saying there should be a reexamination of the amount of testing that’s taking place and then a restructuring so that yearly testing doesn’t have to continue,” Cardillo said. “You’re trading off valuable instructional days for an excessive amount of testing days.”
Mineola Superintendent of Schools Michael Nagler described the tests as a new baseline for measuring growth in learning at last Thursday’s board of education meeting.
Mineola’s eighth grade math proficiency rate dropped 40 points to 24 percent, with 39.7 percent of English students passing the exam – a 15.9 point decrease from 2012. The district’s fourth grade English and math passing rates dropped to 40.5 percent and 51.7 percent from 2012 marks of 67.2 percent and 83.6 percent.
“I’m not surprised about any of this,” Nagler said. “I’ve pretty much been on the soapbox about this the last two years. The reason we went and adopted the NWEA and gave our children another assessment is to find an accurate growth measure that helps children and helps parents. We knew the state was going to go through some growing pains and we’re now in the middle of it.”
Nagler added that schools should consider students’ work and teacher comments in addition to test scores when assessing performance.
Bill Whelan also contibuted to this article.
