Want your article published?  Need help posting messages?  Send email to Jerry.

2005 4th & 8th Grade ELA & Math Results (NY)

Updated 19 Aug 2006

 

Rank	Name	Percent Passing 2005	Name	Average Percent Passing 2003-2005	Name	Average Percent Passing 2000-2005
1	Edinburg	100	Niskayuna	87.5	Maplewood	87.4
2	Menands	95	Bethlehem	85.3	Bethlehem	86.7
3	Schuylerville	89.6	Voorheesville	84.3	Niskayuna	86.7
4	Niskayuna	88.5	Maplewood	83.3	Voorheesville	85.2
5	Burnt Hills	87.5	Schuylerville	83.3	Edinburg	84.6
6	Duanesburg	87.5	Burnt Hills	82.9	Burnt Hills	83.0
7	Bethlehem	87.4	G. Island	82.8	N. Colonie	81.7
8	Maplewood	86.7	E. Greenbush	81.9	Menands	80.8
9	Voorheesville	86.4	Edinburg	80.6	S. Glens Falls	80.1
10	E. Greenbush	85.5	Averill P.	79.9	Averill P.	79.9
11	S. Glens Falls	85.3	Saratoga	79.7	Schuylerville	79.7
12	Saratoga	84.4	N. Colonie	79.2	E. Greenbush	78.9
13	Averill P.	83.8	S. Glens Falls	79.0	Saratoga	78.8
14	Guilderland	82.4	Menands	78.7	Scotia-Glenville	78.2
15	G. Island	82.1	Guilderland	76.8	Guilderland	77.8
16	S. Colonie	81	S. Colonie	76.7	Shenendehowa	76.9
17	Shenendehowa	80.7	Shenendehowa	75.5	Schodack	76.8
18	Stillwater	80.5	Cornith	75.4	S. Colonie	75.4
19	N. Colonie	79	Scotia-Glenville	75.1	Stillwater	74.7
20	Ballston Spa	78.2	Waterford	74.9	Brunswick	72.9
21	Scotia-Glenville	77.3	Stillwater	74.5	Duanesburg	72.4
22	Galway	75.9	Schodack	73.9	Waterford	71.3
23	Schodack	75.7	Duanesburg	73.4	Galway	70.8
24	Cornith	74.3	Galway	72.7	Wynantskill	70.5
25	Cohoes	74.1	Schalmont	71.3	G. Island	69.9
26	Schalmont	73.1	Brunswick	70.6	Ballston Spa	68.1
27	H. Valley	72	Ballston Spa	70.0	Cornith	68.0
28	Mechanicville	71.2	H. Valley	69.0	Schalmont	67.8
29	Mohonasen	68.5	Berne-Knox	67.2	H. Valley	67.3
30	Lansingburgh	66.8	Wynantskill	64.8	Mohonasen	66.0
31	Berne-Knox	66.2	Mohonasen	62.9	Mechanicville	65.2
32	Brunswick	65.7	Cohoes	62.6	Berne-Knox	64.2
33	Ravena	64.4	Mechanicville	61.9	Cohoes	61.7
34	Waterford	64.2	H. Falls	61.3	Ravena	60.9
35	H. Falls	62.4	Watervliet	58.4	H. Falls	60.6
36	Berlin	62.2	Ravena	58.0	Berlin	57.4
37	Rensselaer	61.2	Berlin	57.2	Watervliet	56.2
38	Troy	53.9	Lansingburgh	57.2	Lansingburgh	56.1
39	Schenectady	53.7	Troy	50.8	Troy	54.4
40	Albany	53	Schenectady	48.7	Rensselaer	48.3
41	Wynantskill	52	Albany	48.0	Schenectady	47.3
42	Watervliet	50	Rensselaer	48.0	Albany	46.0
	AVERAGE	75.0		71.1		70.9

The following table shows the 1-, 3- and 6-year rankings of the schools based on the percentage of students performing in Level 4, the top level.  In 2005, S-G had a higher percentage of students scoring in Level 4 compared to its 3-year average but a lower percentage compared to its 6-year average.  This indicates an inconsistent ability to move students into the top performance level.  Schuylerville, on the other hand, shows an improving ability to move students into the top performance level.  In 2005, it had 36.8% of its students performing at this level, compared to 26.6% for its 2003 to 2005 average and 22.2% for its 2000 to 2005 average.

Table of Various Rankings Based on ELA-4 Top Performance

 

Rank	Name	Top Performance 2005	Name	Top Performance 2003-2005	Name	Top Performance 2000-2005
1	Edinburg	77.8	G. Island	41.9	Bethlehem	33.9
2	G. Island	50	Edinburg	37.0	Niskayuna	33.6
3	Schuylerville	36.8	Menands	32.1	Voorheesville	31.0
4	E. Greenbush	34.6	Niskayuna	31.8	Menands	30.7
5	Ballston Spa	34.1	Saratoga	30.9	G. Island	30.4
6	Bethlehem	34	Voorheesville	30.2	Burnt Hills	29.6
7	Niskayuna	32.5	Bethlehem	29.9	N. Colonie	29.4
8	Saratoga	31.7	Maplewood	28.2	Edinburg	29.1
9	Menands	30	E. Greenbush	28.0	Saratoga	28.7
10	Voorheesville	29.6	Cornith	26.9	Maplewood	28.2
11	Burnt Hills	29.4	Averill P.	26.6	E. Greenbush	27.9
12	N. Colonie	28.5	Schuylerville	26.6	Scotia-Glenville	26.5
13	Cohoes	25.9	Burnt Hills	25.7	Averill P.	26.2
14	Stillwater	25.3	N. Colonie	25.7	Stillwater	25.5
15	Guilderland	24.8	Ballston Spa	25.7	Guilderland	25.1
16	Shenendehowa	24.7	Stillwater	23.9	Ballston Spa	24.3
17	Averill P.	24.5	S. Colonie	22.7	Schodack	24.0
18	Scotia-Glenville	24.5	Guilderland	22.5	Shenendehowa	23.7
19	S. Glens Falls	22.5	S. Glens Falls	22.4	S. Colonie	23.4
20	Cornith	21.9	Waterford	22.2	S. Glens Falls	22.6
21	Duanesburg	21.9	Shenendehowa	21.8	Schuylerville	22.2
22	Schalmont	21.9	Scotia-Glenville	21.8	Brunswick	20.9
23	Maplewood	20	Schodack	21.0	Galway	20.7
24	H. Valley	20	Schalmont	20.0	Wynantskill	19.5
25	Schodack	19.6	Galway	19.2	Waterford	18.9
26	Galway	19.5	Cohoes	18.5	H. Valley	18.1
27	S. Colonie	19	Duanesburg	17.5	Cornith	18.0
28	Berlin	16.2	H. Valley	17.0	Schalmont	17.7
29	Mechanicville	14.9	Brunswick	16.8	Duanesburg	17.6
30	Ravena	13.6	Berne-Knox	13.9	Mechanicville	17.2
31	Berne-Knox	12.2	Berlin	13.9	Cohoes	16.5
32	Waterford	11.9	Ravena	13.2	Berne-Knox	15.9
33	Mohonasen	11.6	Wynantskill	13.1	Ravena	15.8
34	Brunswick	11.4	Watervliet	12.7	Mohonasen	15.3
35	Albany	10.7	Mechanicville	12.7	Berlin	12.4
36	H. Falls	10.4	Mohonasen	12.6	Watervliet	11.5
37	Watervliet	10	H. Falls	12.3	H. Falls	10.9
38	Troy	9.6	Lansingburgh	11.0	Troy	10.6
39	Rensselaer	8.9	Albany	10.0	Lansingburgh	10.3
40	Schenectady	8.3	Troy	9.7	Albany	10.0
41	Wynantskill	5.8	Schenectady	7.2	Schenectady	8.3
42	Lansingburgh	5.6	Rensselaer	5.8	Rensselaer	6.0
		22.5		21.0		21.1

The next table answers the questions, "Which schools are making the most improvement and how much improvement are they making?"  This chart uses all 7 years of ELA scores.  I average the percentage of students passing the exams in each school for 1999 and 2000 and compare them to the average of the percentage of students passing the exams in each school for 2004 and 2005.  This can be interpreted as an analysis of improvement over 3 years.

On average, schools have added 6.1 points to the percentage of students passing the 4th grade ELA exam.  Schools that had above average pass rates for 1999-2000 have added an average of 1.6 points to the percentage of students passing the exam.  Schools with below average pass rates for 1999-2000 have added an average of 10.4 points to their pass rates.  Factors that can cause improvements in scores (here) include:

	Changes in state learning standards.
	Changes in state achievement standards.  These define the levels of proficiency.
	Changes in exam difficulty, content and/or format.
	Changes in grading rubrics.
	Changes in the degree of exam similarity from year to year.
	Changes in grade-level retention rates.
	Students moving into better performing school districts
	Changes in scale score conversions or in cut-off scores
	Improvements in gaming the test, including institutionalized cheating.
	Changes in the level of information about what will be on the test (test-content intelligence).
	Improved instruction/learning from increasing classroom time spent on math, using math across the curriculum, improved teaching techniques from professional development, after-school classes, better assessments of students' strengths and weaknesses and more individual help.

Scotia-Glenville ranks 36th in "improvement."  In fact, the percentage of students passing the 4th-grade ELA has actually declined by 2 points, compared to a 1.6 point average increase for schools with above average pass rates in 1999 and 2000.

Table of Improvement on the ELA-4 Exam

 

Rank	Name	Percent Passing 2005	Name	Average Percent Passing 2003-2005	Name	Average Percent Passing 2000-2005
1	Voorheesville	78.4	Maplewood	75.9	Menands	62.8
2	Maplewood	75	Voorheesville	74.9	Voorheesville	61.0
3	Menands	74.1	N. Colonie	72.6	N. Colonie	61.0
4	Schuylerville	73.6	Niskayuna	71.9	Niskayuna	60.0
5	Bethlehem	73.3	Menands	71.9	Bethlehem	59.7
6	N. Colonie	73.1	Bethlehem	71.1	Shenendehowa	56.5
7	Niskayuna	72.9	Schuylerville	68.4	Guilderland	54.7
8	Duanesburg	72	Shenendehowa	66.8	Burnt Hills	54.1
9	Shenendehowa	67.8	Schodack	66.4	Averill P.	54.0
10	Burnt Hills	66.5	Duanesburg	65.6	Schodack	53.9
11	Guilderland	66.2	Guilderland	65.1	Maplewood	51.2
12	Schodack	64.1	Averill P.	65.0	Saratoga	50.5
13	Mechanicville	63.7	Saratoga	63.6	Schuylerville	49.6
14	Averill P.	60	Burnt Hills	63.5	Wynantskill	48.0
15	Cornith	59.7	Mechanicville	60.1	Duanesburg	47.5
16	Saratoga	59.5	S. Glens Falls	58.2	Ballston Spa	47.0
17	Ballston Spa	59.2	Ballston Spa	58.0	S. Glens Falls	47.0
18	Waterford	59.1	S. Colonie	56.9	Mechanicville	46.8
19	Schalmont	59.1	Berne-Knox	54.9	Berne-Knox	46.2
20	Galway	59	Galway	54.7	S. Colonie	44.4
21	S. Glens Falls	58.4	Cornith	53.7	Brunswick	44.2
22	S. Colonie	57.4	Wynantskill	53.0	E. Greenbush	44.2
23	H. Falls	56.3	E. Greenbush	52.5	H. Valley	43.5
24	Scotia-Glenville	55.5	Stillwater	51.4	Scotia-Glenville	42.8
25	Stillwater	54.9	Scotia-Glenville	50.9	Cornith	42.8
26	Mohonasen	53.5	H. Valley	49.8	Galway	42.5
27	Berlin	52.9	Brunswick	49.6	Stillwater	41.5
28	Cohoes	50.6	Schalmont	48.7	Mohonasen	40.7
29	E. Greenbush	50.4	Mohonasen	48.0	Schalmont	40.5
30	Ravena	50	Ravena	46.7	Ravena	38.2
31	Berne-Knox	47.5	Cohoes	45.5	G. Island	37.5
32	Brunswick	46.5	Berlin	43.1	Cohoes	36.4
33	H. Valley	43.6	Waterford	42.7	Waterford	33.5
34	Lansingburgh	38.8	H. Falls	39.7	Berlin	33.1
35	Wynantskill	36.9	G. Island	39.2	H. Falls	32.8
36	G. Island	34.8	Lansingburgh	39.0	Lansingburgh	32.1
37	Rensselaer	34.6	Watervliet	34.9	Troy	27.7
38	Watervliet	32	Rensselaer	30.3	Rensselaer	27.0
39	Troy	31.3	Troy	30.3	Watervliet	25.8
40	Schenectady	24.8	Schenectady	26.0	Schenectady	21.5
41	Albany	19	Albany	23.3	Albany	18.4
	AVERAGE	55.3		53.7		44.0

The following table shows the 1-, 3- and 6-year rankings of the schools based on the percentage of students performing in Level 4, the top level. S-G ranks 31st in the capital district, with the fewest students ever scoring in the top performance level of the ELA8 exam.  In 2005, S-G had a lower percentage of students scoring in Level 4 compared to its 3-year average, and both of these were lower than  its 6-year average. This indicates that over time fewer students are able to score in the top performance level. Schuylerville, on the other hand, shows an improving ability to move students into the top performance level. In 2005, it had 22.4% of its students performing at this level, compared to 18.1% for its 2003 to 2005 average and 13.5% for its 2000 to 2005 average.

Table of Various Rankings Based on ELA-8 Top Performance

 

Rank	Name	Top Performance 2005	Name	Top Performance 2003-2005	Name	Top Performance 2000-2005
1	Duanesburg	30.7	Menands	21.9	Menands	25.0
2	Schuylerville	22.4	Maplewood	21.8	Voorheesville	23.9
3	Niskayuna	21.4	Voorheesville	21.1	Niskayuna	23.9
4	N. Colonie	19.8	Niskayuna	21.1	Bethlehem	22.4
5	Bethlehem	18.3	N. Colonie	20.3	N. Colonie	22.0
6	Mechanicville	16.7	Mechanicville	18.6	Schodack	19.0
7	Shenendehowa	14.9	Schuylerville	18.1	Shenendehowa	18.1
8	Menands	14.8	Bethlehem	17.9	Averill P.	16.8
9	Voorheesville	14.7	Duanesburg	16.8	Burnt Hills	15.2
10	Schodack	14.6	Schodack	16.2	Guilderland	14.8
11	Ballston Spa	13.5	Shenendehowa	15.2	Mechanicville	14.6
12	Burnt Hills	13.1	Averill P.	14.2	Maplewood	14.2
13	Maplewood	12.5	Burnt Hills	13.7	Brunswick	14.0
14	Berne-Knox	11.9	Saratoga	13.7	Saratoga	13.8
15	Stillwater	10.8	Guilderland	12.4	Schuylerville	13.5
16	Guilderland	10.7	Ballston Spa	11.8	Berne-Knox	13.2
17	Brunswick	9.9	S. Glens Falls	11.7	Duanesburg	13.0
18	H. Falls	9.7	Berne-Knox	11.2	E. Greenbush	11.2
19	Waterford	9.7	S. Colonie	9.7	Cornith	10.8
20	S. Colonie	9.6	Brunswick	9.6	Ballston Spa	10.8
21	Cornith	9.2	Stillwater	9.1	Mohonasen	10.7
22	Galway	8.6	E. Greenbush	9.0	Schalmont	10.0
23	Saratoga	8.6	Cornith	8.6	S. Colonie	10.0
24	Ravena	8.2	Mohonasen	8.5	S. Glens Falls	10.0
25	Schalmont	7.7	Galway	7.9	Galway	9.9
26	Mohonasen	7.7	Schalmont	7.3	Stillwater	9.8
27	E. Greenbush	7.5	Ravena	7.2	Scotia-Glenville	9.0
28	Cohoes	6.3	Scotia-Glenville	6.7	Ravena	8.0
29	Averill P.	6.3	H. Falls	6.4	Cohoes	7.8
30	S. Glens Falls	5.9	Wynantskill	6.1	Wynantskill	7.6
31	Scotia-Glenville	5.3	Lansingburgh	5.9	H. Falls	7.5
32	Lansingburgh	4.8	Cohoes	5.7	H. Valley	6.9
33	H. Valley	4	H. Valley	5.5	Lansingburgh	5.8
34	Watervliet	3.9	Waterford	5.2	G. Island	5.5
35	Rensselaer	3.6	Watervliet	4.3	Waterford	5.5
36	Schenectady	2.5	Albany	3.5	Troy	4.8
37	Berlin	2.4	Schenectady	2.9	Rensselaer	3.8
38	Wynantskill	2.2	Rensselaer	2.8	Albany	3.5
39	Troy	2.2	Troy	2.7	Watervliet	3.2
40	Albany	1.5	G. Island	2.0	Schenectady	3.2
41	G. Island	0	Berlin	1.5	Berlin	3.1
	AVERAGE	10.0		10.6		11.6

The next table answers the questions, "Which schools are making the most improvement and how much improvement are they making?"  On average, schools lost 1.1 points of the percentage of students passing the 8th grade ELA exam. Schools that had above average pass rates for 1999-2000 lost an average of 5.1 points of the percentage of students passing the exam. Schools with below average pass rates for 1999-2000 added an average of 2.7 points to their pass rates.  This seems to be mostly the result of lowering the cut-off scores for Level 1.

Once again, Scotia-Glenville ranks very low in "improvement"-- 34th.  In fact, the percentage of students passing the 8th-grade ELA has actually declined by 7 points, compared to the average 5.1 point average decline for schools with above average pass rates in 1999 and 2000.

Table of Improvement on the ELA-8 Exam

Table of Various Rankings Based on MATH-4 Pass Rates

Rank	Name	Percent Passing 2005	Name	Average Percent Passing 2003-2005	Name	Average Percent Passing 2000-2005
1	Edinburg	100	Edinburg	100.0	Voorheesville	94.6
2	Maplewood	100	Schuylerville	98.8	Maplewood	93.6
3	Menands	100	Maplewood	96.8	Niskayuna	93.5
4	Schuylerville	98.6	Menands	96.3	Schuylerville	93.3
5	E. Greenbush	97.8	Niskayuna	96.0	Bethlehem	92.7
6	Niskayuna	97.5	E. Greenbush	95.5	Menands	92.1
7	Burnt Hills	96.8	Voorheesville	95.4	Schodack	92.0
8	N. Colonie	96.4	Burnt Hills	94.7	Burnt Hills	91.8
9	S. Glens Falls	96.1	S. Glens Falls	94.6	Averill P.	91.7
10	Averill P.	95.9	Bethlehem	94.4	S. Glens Falls	91.6
11	S. Colonie	95.7	N. Colonie	93.8	N. Colonie	91.2
12	Voorheesville	95	Averill P.	93.0	Edinburg	90.4
13	Saratoga	94.3	Schalmont	92.9	E. Greenbush	90.3
14	Duanesburg	93.7	G. Island	92.2	Guilderland	90.0
15	Bethlehem	93.1	Guilderland	92.2	S. Colonie	88.1
16	Guilderland	93.1	Schodack	91.8	Scotia-Glenville	87.9
17	Scotia-Glenville	93.1	S. Colonie	91.5	Stillwater	86.7
18	G. Island	92.9	Stillwater	90.8	Schalmont	86.1
19	Shenendehowa	92.8	Saratoga	90.2	Saratoga	86.1
20	Schodack	92.7	Scotia-Glenville	89.0	Wynantskill	85.8
21	Schalmont	91.3	Duanesburg	88.5	Mohonasen	85.5
22	Stillwater	90.9	Shenendehowa	88.0	Shenendehowa	84.9
23	Mohonasen	88.8	Mohonasen	87.5	Duanesburg	83.2
24	Berne-Knox	88	H. Valley	85.2	G. Island	81.6
25	Ballston Spa	87.4	Wynantskill	85.2	Berne-Knox	80.1
26	Cohoes	87.2	Brunswick	85.1	H. Falls	80.0
27	Lansingburgh	86.3	Berne-Knox	84.4	Brunswick	79.9
28	H. Valley	84.8	H. Falls	83.9	H. Valley	79.7
29	Berlin	83.5	Watervliet	82.0	Cohoes	78.1
30	H. Falls	83.5	Ballston Spa	81.8	Galway	78.1
31	Mechanicville	81.9	Cornith	80.8	Ballston Spa	77.9
32	Waterford	81.9	Cohoes	80.2	Watervliet	76.9
33	Galway	81.2	Waterford	79.4	Ravena	76.4
34	Brunswick	81	Ravena	79.4	Mechanicville	75.0
35	Wynantskill	80.8	Lansingburgh	79.0	Cornith	74.4
36	Cornith	80.2	Mechanicville	78.6	Waterford	73.8
37	Rensselaer	78	Berlin	77.1	Lansingburgh	72.4
38	Ravena	77.3	Galway	76.7	Troy	66.9
39	Troy	77.2	Rensselaer	74.8	Schenectady	65.6
40	Watervliet	76.9	Schenectady	71.4	Berlin	65.4
41	Schenectady	74.4	Troy	70.1	Rensselaer	63.7
42	Albany	72.4	Albany	68.9	Albany	61.7
	AVERAGE	88.8		86.9		82.6

The following table shows the 1-, 3- and 6-year rankings of the schools based on the percentage of students performing in Level 4, the top level.  East Greenbush (with about 300 4th-graders) is a good example of a school district with better top performance than S-G that has made consistent improvement at a faster rate.

Table of Various Rankings Based on MATH-4 Top Performance