New York’s Common Core test scores flop yet again — with 20 percent of students opting out
New York just released student scores on the 2015 state-mandated Common Core standardized tests in math and English Language Arts and the results were interesting. The scores — the third year for Common Core testing — edged up slightly from last year, but a comparison with last year is not especially useful, given that some 20 percent of students opted out of the tests this past spring, far more than last year. So what do the test scores mean? Carol Burris, the executive director of the nonprofit Network for Public Education Fund, explains in this post. Burris retired in June as an award-winning principal at a New York high school, and she is the author of numerous articles, books and blog posts (including on The Answer Sheet) about the botched school reform efforts in her state.
By Carol Burris
Once again, New York State Common Core test scores are a flop. Theproficiency needle barely budged.
The percentage of students scoring proficient in English Language Arts rose less than 1 point, to 31.3 percent. The percentage of students who met math proficiency rose less than 2 points, to 38.1 percent. At this rate of increase, it will take about 70 years for all New York students to meet both New York Common Core proficiency cut scores.
There was no closing of the gap—in fact when it comes to proficiency rates, the gap between white students and black students and white students and Latino students widened in both ELA and math. The math proficiency gap increased by more than 3 percentage points. Both black and Latino student math proficiency rates rose about 1 percent–gains by white students were largely responsible for most of the increase in state math scores.
Only 4.4 percent of all English language learners and 5.7 percent of students with disabilities were proficient in English Language Arts, and their math proficiency gains were respectively 0.6 percent and 1 percent. Economically disadvantaged students’ proficiency rates were not part of the released results.
What was reported this year was data on opt outs. Over 200,000 students opted out of the tests. Remarkably, opt outs helped fuel the small overall increases. If the 20 percent of potential test takers had opted in, the tiny increases in proficiency rates would have likely been smaller still. Opt outs were disproportionately students who had scored at levels 1 or 2 (below proficiency) during the prior year. Regrettably, state EducationCommissioner MaryEllen Elia used the release of the scores as an opportunity to threaten school districts that had high opt outs with loss of funding. She New York’s Common Core test scores flop yet again — with 20 percent of students opting out - The Washington Post:
