Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza announced that New York City students are outperforming New York State on State English exams, and are continuing to close the gap with the State on State math exams. New York City students outperformed the State on State English exams for the first time ever in 2016 and have now done so for three years in a row.
In 2018, 46.7 percent of New York City students met proficiency standards in English and 42.7 percent of students met the standards in math. By comparison, 45.2 percent of all New York State students met proficiency standards in English and 44.5 percent met proficiency standards in math.
“We came into office to shake the foundation of a system that neglected too many students, parents, teachers and schools,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We now have a school system that is steadily improving before our eyes. We’ve seen steady gains across our students’ State math and English exams, proving that equity and excellence go hand in hand. I salute our students on their progress.”
“Our students’ performance on these exams is one measure of the strength of New York City schools – the hard work of our students, and the dedication and support of our teachers, staff, and families,” said Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza. “Along with record-high graduation and college enrollment rates and progress on our Equity & Excellence for All agenda, these scores are indicative of the sustained progress we have made in classrooms, schools and districts across all five boroughs. We have much more work to do to close opportunity gaps, and we will continue our push to deliver the equitable and excellent education that every New York City public school student deserves.”
New York City schools are the strongest they’ve ever been across multiple measures, including:
The highest-ever graduation rate – 74.3 percent of the Class of 2017.
The lowest-ever dropout rate – 7.8 percent of the Class of 2017.
The highest-ever postsecondary enrollment rate – 57 percent of the Class of 2016.
The highest-ever number of New York City students taking and passing Advanced Placement exams and the SAT exam.
New York City students’ performance on State exams goes hand-in-hand with these gains, and reflects investments in the Mayor and Chancellor’s Equity and Excellence for All agenda.
Starting in spring 2018, the New York State Education Department reduced the number of testing days from three to two per exam. Because of this and other changes to the State exams in 2018, the New York State Education Department has advised that 2018 results should not be compared to 2017 results. Therefore, our key findings focus on overall proficiency comparisons between New York City students and their peers in the rest of the State, because all students took the same exams in 2018:
New York City students outperformed New York State on English, with 46.7 percent of students meeting proficiency standards, compared to the State’s 45.2 percent. This is the third year in a row that New York City students have outperformed their State peers on English, with the difference increasing each time. This year, the difference increased from 0.8 percentage points to 1.5 percentage points.
New York City students continued to close the gap with New York State on the State math exams, from 2.4 percentage points to 1.8 percentage points.
Prior to the test revisions, New York City students’ English and math results had increased every year for four years. English results improved in each of the City’s 32 community school districts for four years in a row.
Below are 2018 results by grade and demographic:
Overall Results by Grade:
| English |
|
Math |
| Grade |
2018 # Tested |
2018 % L3+4 |
|
Grade |
2018 # Tested |
2018 % L3+4 |
| 3 |
67325 |
50.6 |
|
3 |
68732 |
52.2 |
| 4 |
67656 |
49.4 |
|
4 |
68895 |
46.4 |
| 5 |
68524 |
38 |
|
5 |
69433 |
41.7 |
| 6 |
65208 |
49 |
|
6 |
66041 |
39.9 |
| 7 |
65334 |
42.7 |
|
7 |
65783 |
39.8 |
| 8 |
63215 |
50.8 |
|
8 |
49766 |
33.2 |
| All |
397262 |
46.7 |
|
All |
388650 |
42.7 |
Overall Results by Demographic:
| English |
|
Math |
|
Demographic
Subgroup |
2018 # Tested |
2018 % L3+4 |
|
Demographic Subgroup |
2018 # Tested |
2018 % L3+4 |
|
| Asian |
72910 |
67.2 |
|
Asian |
70558 |
72.2 |
|
| Black |
87615 |
34 |
|
Black |
85030 |
25.4 |
|
| Hispanic |
163699 |
36 |
|
Hispanic |
162336 |
30.3 |
|
| White |
64178 |
66.5 |
|
White |
62261 |
63.6 |
|
| Current ELL |
51739 |
9.9 |
|
Current ELL |
58651 |
18 |
|
| SWD |
86462 |
15.8 |
|
SWD |
84900 |
15.4 |
|
3.4 percent of New York City students refused to take English exams and 3.9 percent refused to take math. A total of 19,041 students, or 4.4 percent, refused either exam. Last year, 4.0 percent of students refused either exam. Statewide, 18 percent of students refused to test in 2018.
Families are now able to view their students’ scores online via the NYC Schools Account (NYCSA). For information on NYCSA registration, families can visit the NYC Schools Account page. Families can reach out to their parent coordinator for additional support in accessing their students’ scores.
Today’s results demonstrate the City’s progress on the Mayor and Chancellor’s Equity and Excellence for All agenda. Together, the Equity and Excellence for All initiatives are building a pathway to success in college and careers for all students. Our schools are starting earlier – free, full-day, high-quality education for three-year-olds and four-year-olds through 3-K for All and Pre-K for All. They are strengthening foundational skills and instruction earlier – Universal Literacy so that every student is reading on grade level by the end of 2nd grade; and Algebra for All to improve elementary- and middle-school math instruction and ensure that all 8th graders have access to algebra. They are offering students more challenging, hands-on, college and career-aligned coursework – Computer Science for All brings 21st-century computer science instruction to every school, and AP for All will give all high school students access to at least five Advanced Placement courses. Along the way, they are giving students and families additional support through College Access for All, Single Shepherd, and investment in Community Schools. Efforts to create more diverse and inclusive classrooms, including Equity & Excellence for All: Diversity in New York City Public Schools are central to this pathway.
More information on State exam results is available online.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
These test score results prove that Mayor Control is a failure. The United Federation of Teachers said when Mayor Bloomberg came out with similar increases during the first few years of Mayoral Control that students were making normal progressive increases in student Performance.
These same words can and should have been used each and every year test scores have come out by the UFT, but they received a big fat contract when Mayor Bill de Blasio came into office which former Mayor Bloomberg refused to give to the UFT.
It is crazy to thing that because graduation rates have increased or dropout rates have dropped, or more students are taking the SAT exams that education is any better than it would have been without Mayoral Control.
The statistics speak for themselves. In no grades are students performing near where the New York State Department of Education goals were set before Mayoral Control came in. In fact when looking at the Demographic breakdowns, Black and Hispanic students are no better off than they were before Mayoral Control.
The New York State legislature must come to the reality that Mayoral Control has been one big failure to the students of New York City.
