City Students Make Gains On "National Report Card"

The New York City Department of Education announced last week that public school students made impressive gains on the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests, with particularly significant progress achieved by 4th graders in mathematics compared to their peers in other cities and by Black 4th-grade students in both reading and math.

Overall, 79 percent of New York City 4th graders performed at or above basic levels of achievement on the math exam, nearly equaling the 81 percent average nationally. This performance represents a six percentage point gain since 2005, and a nearly 12 percentage point gain since 2003, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein introduced the Children First reforms.

City eighth graders also made progress in math, with 57 percent performing at or above basic levels of achievement, an increase of three percentage points from the NAEP exam in 2005, when it was last given.

Although the achievement gap among ethnic groups remains large, this year's math test results reflect the city's significant progress in narrowing that gap. Black and Hispanic fourth graders outperformed similar students in "large central" cities (cities with a population of 250,000 and above) nationwide, and among the 11 urban districts- including New York City- that participated in the NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA).

In fourth grade, 72 percent of Black students scored at or above basic levels in math, a gain of 14 percentage points since 2003. By comparison, 58 percent of 4th-grade Black students in other large central cities and 63 percent nationally scored at or above basic levels in math. Black 4th-grade students ranked second among their peers in TUDA districts in both their level of achievement and gains in math.

Additionally, 74 percent of Hispanic fourth graders achieved at or above basic levels in math, a 14 percentage point gain since 2002. By comparison, 66 percent of Hispanics in other large central cities and 69 percent nationally scored at or above basic levels. Hispanic 4th-grade students ranked fifth among their peers in TUDA districts in their level of achievement and third in gains.

"These national test results confirm that our reforms have helped raise performance to an historically high level," Chancellor Klein said, "helping to bring the City's overall performance nearly equal to the national average- an achievement that would have been unthinkable less than a decade ago."

In reading, 57 percent of 4th graders performed at or above basic levels, representing a gain of 10 percentage points since 2002. Additionally, 25 percent of New York City 4th graders performed at or above proficiency levels on the exam, an increase of nearly six percentage points since 2002.

The percent of 4th-grade students achieving at or above basic levels on the reading exam remained stable since 2005 despite a policy change that resulted in a substantial increase in the percentage of English language learners taking the exam. English language learners represented 15 percent of 4th grade test-takers in 2007, compared with 8 percent in 2005.

Among 8th graders, 59 percent of City students achieved at or above basic levels in reading, a 2 percent decrease compared with 2005. Among TUDA districts, New York City had the highest percentage of 8th-grade low-income students achieving at or above proficiency levels (17 percent), outperforming their peers in other large central cities (12 percent) and in the nation (15 percent).

Similarly, more of the City's low-income 8th graders (56 percent) achieved at or above basic levels in reading than those in large central cities overall (52 percent), while performing two percentage points below the national average (58 percent).

NAEP, often referred to as "the nation's report card," is the ongoing representative sample survey of student achievement in core subject areas and reports the educational progress of students in grades 4, 8, and 12.

Reader Comments

No comments have been posted. Be the first!

Other Stories With Comments:
Article	Comments
Golden City: Bought, Burned, Bought Again	1