New York City Public Schools tout highest test scores in more than a decade
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- New York City is touting the highest scores in more than a decade.
New York's State test results show 57 percent of students in grades 3 through 8 were considered proficient in math last year.
That jumped 3.5 points from the previous year.
About 56 percent of students were also proficient in reading.
New York City Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos says English proficiency increased more than 7 points from the year before.
She also points out that the city's scores are higher than the state average.
"7.2 percentage points and 3.5 was definitely it was something to celebrate," Aviles-Ramos said.
The results come after Mayor Eric Adams, who is seeking reelection, overhauled the way city children are taught reading.
"These academic gains in English Language Arts and math are a testament to what's possible when we invest in our young people and believe in their potential, and we are proud of our students, teachers, and the entire school community," Adams said.
There is still a big disparity across all demographics.
75 percent of Asian-American students were proficient in reading.
74 percent of white students were proficient in reading.
But Latino students had only 43.5 percent proficiency and black students were barely higher with 47 percent.
On a positive note, black students' scores jumped 8 points in reading, the largest increase of any racial group.
Aviles-Ramos is thrilled to see that NYC students in grades 3 through 8 made big strides in English and Math state tests.
She believes the recent overhaul of how reading is taught is an important factor. It's something the mayor, who had his own reading struggles as a child, pushed for.
"We changed the reading curriculum to a phonics-based reading system and it made a huge impact," Adams said.
Early interventions were also given more systematically for kids who were lagging or needed test prep, rounding out the approach.
But it may be too early to draw conclusions.
Professor Aaron Pallas from Teachers College at Columbia University is an expert on school reform in New York City and says there are lots of reasons why test scores can go up.
"When you see gains of this magnitude, it for me at least it's worth some caution," Pallas said.
He says he'll be more convinced of systematic success if the numbers go up again next year.
"One is the mix of kids who are taking the test changes. Another is whether the test becomes less difficult over time. The other policy changes New York City had invested in trying to target kids who were just below the threshold of proficiency," Pallas said.
"We saw that gap closed a little bit. Some historic gains there, and I'm super proud of that. But what I also said to the team is we want to make sure that this feels us and inspires us to do more because the work is not done," Aviles-Ramos said.
The United Federation of Teachers also released a statement on the scores, saying,
"The rise in test scores in both ELA and math is a testament to the hard work by New York City educators and our students. I also want to acknowledge that this success would not have been possible without Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, who fought the DOE bureaucracy to make sure the needs of students and school communities came first," said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers.
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