Students fall short of math exam standards
More than half of 8th-graders don't make cut
By SHIRIN PARSAVAND
Gazette Reporter
ALBANY - More than half of the eighth-graders in New York fell short
of the standards on new state math tests, the state
Education Department announced Friday.
Students' performance was better on the new fourth-grade math test,
but a third of fourth-graders statewide still failed to meet standards
on that test.
More than half of eighth-graders also fell below the standards on the
state English test.
But state and local officials sounded most concerned about the
results on the eighth-grade math test. Sixty-two percent of students who
took that test did not meet the standards. And nearly a third of the
eighth-graders' math scores were in the lowest of four levels.
"I think everyone knows these results are not acceptable,"
state Education Commissioner Richard P. Mills said.
The new tests are tougher than the state tests that students used to
take in elementary and middle schools. They require students to read
longer texts, respond to passages read aloud to them and solve more
complex mathematical problems.
Along with the new fourth-grade English test given in January, the
tests are designed to help identify which students need extra
instruction. They're also supposed to give schools an idea of how well
they're doing at preparing students for the Regents exams they will need
to pass to graduate high school.
Results on the fourth-grade English tests, which were released last
May, showed 52 percent of students failed to meet standards.
The worst results on the tests announced Friday were in the big
cities. Close to eight of every 10 eighth-graders in New York City,
Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and Yonkers scored in the lowest two levels
on the math test.
Generally, schools in wealthy areas did better than schools in poor
areas.
But even in the so-called "low-need" school districts,
about a third of eighth-graders failed to meet the standards on the math
test.
"There's work to be done even in our affluent communities,"
said Regents Chancellor Carl T. Hayden.
Mills said the results show that the middle school curriculum needs
to be beefed up. An international study released three years ago showed
that problem isn't New York's alone - U.S. students take less-demanding
math courses than students in many other countries, particularly in the
middle school years, he said.
"Students are getting arithmetic in the early grades, and
they're still getting it [in some middle schools]," he said.
Students scoring in the top two levels on the tests - levels three
and four - know and can do enough to meet all of the standards the tests
measured.
For instance, students who score at level three on the eighth-grade
math test can use prime numbers, understand decimals and estimate time,
distance, capacity and area.
Students in level two may have mastered some of the standards, but
not all of them.
Students at the bottom level are not proficient at all in one or more
of the standards.
In Schenectady
Schenectady schools Superintendent Raymond Colucciello said the
districtwill work to improve scores in all areas, but that the
district's math scores are particularly troublesome.
``We're not pleased at all with these results in math. We know we
have a great deal of work to be done," Colucciello said.
He said the district's math curriculum needs to be revamped, with
some topics coming earlier. This fall, the school district began using a
new elementary school math program, developed by the University of
Chicago, that puts more emphasis on reading and solving real-life
problems, said Gary Comley, the district's math and testing coordinator.
A majority of Schenectady eighth-graders also fell short of the
standards on the English test. But the district's mean score on that
test - which was close to the cutoff between levels two and three -
suggests that many of them nearly met the standards, said Tom Della Sala,
the district's English coordinator.
Some school officials said they wished they could have gotten the
results earlier, to identify which students needed extra help before the
school year started.
Mills acknowledged that concern, but said state officials had to be
careful to be sure the results were accurate.
Still, some districts reported glitches with their data even on
Friday, saying results the state gave them for certain schools are
incorrect.
In a few cases, results weren't released at all, because the scores
were missing completely. The Schenectady schools, for instance, didn't
turn in their fourth-grade math scores for one of its 11 elementary
schools on time, Colucciello said. That means the districtwide scores
could change slightly when that school's results are added.
Program in Albany
In the Albany school district, spokesman David Albert said at least some
of the students who scored at the lowest level are getting extra help
already.
Albany High School has an alternative program for ninth-graders that
gives them extra instruction in reading and math, he said. But officials
don't know how many of the students who scored in the lowest level on
the eighth-grade math and English tests last June are in that program.
"We have to look at where they are right now, and if they're
receiving instruction that will help them improve," he said.
School administrators are reviewing the test results to see which
types of questions caused students the most problems.
On both the math and English tests, Scotia-Glenville students had the
most trouble with questions based on lengthy passages or word problems,
said Joe Ann Barton, the district's director of curriculum and
instruction.
"That's what we need to work on," she said.
School officials said they'll have to examine the test results more
closely to find out whether they need to put more emphasis on certain
ideas and skills, or teach them at an earlier age.
Kelly Deficiani, spokeswoman for the Shenendehowa schools in Clifton
Park, said the district has been working for the past few years to make
sure its curriculum meets the state standards. That could have helped
the district's performance on the tests, she said. Sixty-six percent of
Shenendehowa eighth-graders met the math standards, as did 85 percent of
fourth-graders.
Although some school administrators are frustrated they didn't get
the results sooner, school officials in several districts praised the
tests themselves.
"It used to be a bad thing to say you're teaching to the
test," said Lynn Lisy-Macan, assistant superintendent for
instruction in the Niskayuna schools. "Now, the state has gotten to
a place where the tests match the standards. If you're meeting the
standards in your classroom, you don't need tons of teaching-to-the-test
activities."
Johnstown schools Superintendent John Whelan said using the test
results to compare schools is misleading, especially since the tests
were given for the first time in June.
"It's to evaluate programs and work with staff and assist them
in getting children where they need to be at," Whelan said.
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