New York State officials have released the test scores for students in grades three to eight who took proficiency exams in Math and English in May. Their performances were, in a word, disappointing, highlighting achievement gaps by demographic.
From the Ithaca Journal:
On the English/language arts test, 52.8 percent of all students met or exceeded the standard, down from 53.2 percent in 2010. In math, 63.3 percent met or exceeded proficiency, up from 61 percent last year.
The figures are dramatically lower for minority students: 35 percent of blacks and 37.2 percent of Hispanics hit or exceeded English standards, and 44 percent of blacks and 50.2 percent of Hispanics met or exceeded math standards.
Just 12.6 percent of students whose first language is not English passed the English test and 32.3 percent met or exceeded standards in math. For students with disabilities, 14.5 percent passed the English test and 26.9 percent were proficient in math.
These are dismal figures. Basically, half of our students are not meeting their English proficiency standard. And although the levels for Math are a little better, roughly four out of every 10 students are still not meeting the state standard.
Even more disturbing, minority students, disabled students, and students with a first language other than English are continuing to perform markedly worse than their classmates. As long as the income gap between affluent and lower-income communities continues to grow, we can only expect this trend to continue.
Our Executive Director, Karen Scharff, issued a press release regarding the figures:
“The statewide test scores released today, by the State Education Department, show that New York State is failing to prepare many of our students for college or careers. The racial achievement gap and the continued deferment of CFE are especially alarming. Next month, many public school students, from Buffalo to Long Island, will find their schools closed, their teachers gone, or successful programs such as after school, tutoring and advanced placement courses eliminated. These impacts are a direct result of the decision to give a multi-billion tax dollar cut to the richest New Yorkers. The Governor and the Legislature can help our students succeed by renewing the tax before it expires on December 31, 2011, and restoring school funding to improve education for our 2.7 million schoolchildren.”
New York State is cutting necessary education programs from kids, compromising their chances of attending college and finding gainful employment. They are doing this while simultaneously giving tax breaks to millionaires, billionaires, and corporations. What’s wrong with this picture? We need to protect our kids, not New York’s richest two percent!
Want to join the fight to put the needs of kids first? Visit AQE’s website or email [email protected] to get involved.